Otto von Bismarck

Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.

Never believe anything until it has been officially denied.

The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and majority resolutions—that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by iron and blood.

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

A statesman cannot create anything, he must wait and listen until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, and then spring and seize the hem of His garment.

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

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

Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.

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

Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

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

A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.

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.

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 often regretted my speech, never my silence.

Politics is not an exact science, but an art.

The only healthy basis of a large state is its own egoism, not that of a romantic.

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

Free trade is not a principle, but an expedient.

The strong are strongest when they are alone.