150 Quotes by Otto von Bismarck

Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.

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

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

Woe to the leader whose arguments at the end of a war are not as plausible as they were at the beginning.

Crowned heads, wealth and privilege may well tremble should ever again the Black and Red unite!"-after the split between Anarchists and Marxists in 1872

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

One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).

That which is imposing here on earth has always something of the quality of the fallen angel who is beautiful but without peace, great in his conceptions and exertions but without succes, proud and lonely.

Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.