Otto von Bismarck.-ΡΗΤΑ

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.

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

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

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

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.

A government must not waiver once it has chosen it’s course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.

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

Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.

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

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

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

Politics is the art of the possible.