Quotes from Otto von Bismarck

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

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

When a man says that he approves something in principal, it means he hasnt the slightest intention of putting it in practice.

Never believe in anything until it has been officially denied.

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

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.

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

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

Woe to the statesman who does not seek in these times a case for war that still holds up after the war is over.

Politics is an inexact science.

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.

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

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

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

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

Politics is not an exact science.

A conquering army on the border will not be halted by the power of eloquence.

To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.

Only a completely ready state can permit the luxury of a liberal government.

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

Politics is the art of the next best.

When you say that you agree with a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.