Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art.
man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer
I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
Let us put Germany, so to speak, in the saddle! you will see that she can ride.
To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.
There are two things you don't want to see being made - sausage and legislation.
God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.
I have found that nothing so deceives your adversaries as telling them the truth.
Laws are like medicine; they generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.
There are two things civilized Man should never see being made: Sausages and Laws.
No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.
Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.
Laws are like sausages. You sleep far better the less you know about how they are made.
A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one.
The Catholic priest, from the moment he becomes a priest, is a sworn officer of the pope.
The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night
One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).
There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.
Physicians still retain something of their priestly origin; they would gladly do what they forbid.
Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.
With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made
The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.
A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.
History is simply a piece of paper covered with print: the main thing is to make history, not to write it.
A government must not waiver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.
All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world; and it is the fear of God, which lets us love and foster peace.
Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.
The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.
Fools you are. To say you learn by your experience. I prefer to profit by others' mistakes and avoid the price of my own.
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
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.
This policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron.
A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.
When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
When you say you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
You can't destroy the polish national-consciousness or Poles on the battlefield, but if you give them power, they will destroy themselves
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.