Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg known as Otto von Bismarck was a conservative German statesman who masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as its first chancellor until 1890, in which capacity he dominated European affairs for two decades. He had previously been Minister-President of Prussia (1862–1890) and Chancellor of the North German Confederation (1867–1871). These Otto von Bismarck quotes will motivate you.
Best Otto von Bismarck Quotes
- “The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds prevailed… Therefore they sent their emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to open an abyss between the two sections of the Union.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “What we learn from History is that no one learns from History” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia’s weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come – do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The death of Lincoln was a disaster for Christendom. There was no man in the United States great enough to wear his boots and the bankers went anew to grab the riches. I fear that foreign bankers with their craftiness and tortuous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt civilization.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “I have found that nothing so deceives your adversaries as telling them the truth.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Hounds follow those who feed them.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power … Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favorable moment, which has already come and gone several times. Since the treaties of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill-designed for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided – that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 – but by iron and blood (Eisen und Blut).” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “He obtained from Congress the right to borrow from the people by selling to it the ‘bonds’ of States … and the Government and the nation escaped the plots of the foreign financiers. They understood at once, that the United States would escape their grip. The death of Lincoln was resolved upon.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“A Bavarian is half-way between an Austrian and a human being.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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!” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The nation that has the schools has the future.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Laws are like medicine; they generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “You can’t destroy the polish national-consciousness or Poles on the battlefield, but if you give them power, they will destroy themselves” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The government should cultivate the view also among the propertyless classes of the population, those who are the most numerous and the least educated, that the state is not only an institution of necessity but also of welfare. By recognizable and direct advantages they must be led to look upon the state not as an agency devised solely for the protection of the better-situated classes of society but also as one serving their needs and interests.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “With a gentleman, I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “I have never lived on principles. When I have had to act, I never first asked myself on what principles I was going to act, but I went at it and did what I thought fit. I have often reproached myself for my want of principle.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Politics is not a science…but an art.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The main thing is to make history, not to write it.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “A government must not waiver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the decomposition of the main forces of Russia, which is based on millions of Russian … The latter, even if they break up international treaties, just as quickly re-connect with each other, like pieces of a particle of mercury.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “There is only one greater folly than that of the fool who says in his heart there is no God, and that is the folly of the people that says with its head that it does not know whether there is a God or not.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “I am bored. The great things are done. The German Reich is made.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Great men have great dogs.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “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.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
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“Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “The Balkans arent worth the life of a single Pomeranian grenadier.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
- “Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.” ~ Otto von Bismarck
