Otto Von Bismarck Quotes

Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).

What we learn from History is that no one learns from History

The Americans are a very lucky people. They're bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish.

God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.

The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.

The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.

We live in a wondrous time in which the strong is weak because of his moral scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.

Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.

A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one.

A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.

People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made

Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.

Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.

We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.

The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.

man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer

I have always found the word 'Europe' on the lips of those who wanted something from others which they dared not demand in their own names!

A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.

It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.

Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.

The main thing is to make history, not to write it.

Your map of Africa is really quite nice. But my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia, and here... is France, and we're in the middle - that's my map of Africa.

Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

The nation that has the schools has the future.

You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them

With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.

I have found that nothing so deceives your adversaries as telling them the truth.

Politics is not a science...but an art.

Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.

With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.

You can do anything with children if you only play with them.

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.

Laws are like medicine; they generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.

Great men have great dogs.

You can't destroy the polish national-consciousness or Poles on the battlefield, but if you give them power, they will destroy themselves

Fools you are who say you like to learn from your mistakes. I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid the cost of my own.

Hounds follow those who feed them.

I have often regretted what I have eaten, but never what I have drunk.

A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.

All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.

Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.

Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful, the most useful.

The Balkans arent worth the life of a single Pomeranian grenadier.