Otto von Bismarck

“היה נימוסי, כתוב באופן דיפלומטי. אפילו הכרזת מלחמה צריכה להיכתב בהתאם לכללי הנימוס.”

“המדיניות איננה מדע מדויק, כפי שפרופסורים מסוימים מדמיינים בנפשם; המדיניות היא אמנות.”

“דיפלומטיה ללא צבא כמוה כמוזיקה ללא כלי נגינה.”

“העוצמה עולה על החוק.”

“האהבה עיוורת; הידידות עוצמת את עיניה.”

“הפוליטיקה היא האמנות של האפשרי.”

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

“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.”

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

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

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

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

“Politics ruins the character.”

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

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

“Politics is the art of the possible.”

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

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

“Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others experience.”

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