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

"Not by speeches and votes of the majority are the great questions of time decided — that was the great error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood."

"Trust in God and keep your powder dry."

"I am not a man of principles, but a man of expediency."

"The King is like a piece of wood, and I am the carpenter."