Otto von Bismarck

It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.

Not by speeches and majorities will the great questions of the day be decided, but by iron and blood.

The world is not governed by the written word, but by the unwritten law.

An appeal to fear never finds an echo in a German heart.

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

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

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

A statesman should never resign.

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

Life is like being at the table with a deck of cards. You have to play your hand.

One must fight to win, but not to conquer.

The luxury of one's own opinion is the prerogative of the idle.

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

A journalist is a person who has missed his calling in life.

The press is the enemy.

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

Man cannot create a single worm, yet he creates gods by the dozen.

Let us put Germany in the saddle, so to speak, so that it can ride on the horse it has chosen for itself.

The main thing in one's own affair is to advance.

Anyone who has any real success in this world must be a little unscrupulous.