Otto von Bismarck Quotes - Page 2

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

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

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.

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

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

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!

Hounds follow those who feed them.

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

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

The nation that has the schools has the future.

When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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).

Our German forefathers had a very kind religion. They believed that, after death, they would meet again all the good dogs that had been their companions in life. I wish I could believe that too.

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

No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.

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