Otto von Bismarck Quotes - Page 4

Politics ruins the character.

Vanity is a mortgage that must be deducted from the value of a man.

Life has taught me to forgive much, but to seek forgiveness still more.

I have only one ambition left: I should like to have a good epitaph.

War should only be used for a policy worth its sacrifices.

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

Laws are like sausages. You sleep far better the less you know about how they are made.

I am accustomed to pay men back in their own coin.

Physicians still retain something of their priestly origin; they would gladly do what they forbid.

Not even the King himself has the right to subordinate the interests of his country to his own feelings of love or hatred towards strangers; he is, however, responsible towards God and not to me if he does so, and therefore on this point I am silent.

Earthly majesty is always akin to the fallen angel, who is proud and unhappy, beautiful but troubled, and whose plans and efforts, though vast, are denied access.

Fools you are. To say you learn by your experience. I prefer to profit by others' mistakes and avoid the price of my own.

In England the more horses a nobleman has, the more popular he is. So long as the English are devoted to racing, Socialism has no chance with you.

I must protest that I would never seek foreign conflicts just to go over domestic difficulties; that would be frivolous. I was speaking of conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them.

The Catholic priest, from the moment he becomes a priest, is a sworn officer of the pope.

One can put some trust in the gratitude of a sovereign, and also in that of his family; under certain conditions, one can even rely upon it; but one can never expect anything from the gratitude of a nation.

The statesman's task is to hear God's footsteps marching through history, and to try and catch on to His coattails as He marches past.

The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night

My subject is my life, and my life is my subject.

Revolutions in Prussia are started by kings, and since it is a revolution, it is better to start it ourselves than to suffer of it

An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.

God always looks after the fools and — and the United States.

If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.

A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.

The luxury of one's own opinion.