"Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death."
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Quote collection
Otto von Bismarck quotes (page 2 of 6)
114 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."
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"We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world."
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"The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English."
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"I have always found the word 'Europe' on the lips of those who wanted something from others which they dared not demand in their own names!"
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"man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer"
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"A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed."
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"Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice."
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"It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong."
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"The main thing is to make history, not to write it."
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"Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness."
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"Your map of Africa is really quite nice. But my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia, and here... is France, and we're in the middle - that's my map of Africa."
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"The nation that has the schools has the future."
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"The government should cultivate the view also among the propertyless classes of the population, those who are the most numerous and the least educated, that the state is not only an institution of necessity but also of welfare. By recognizable and direct advantages they must be led to look upon the state not as an agency devised solely for the protection of the better-situated classes of society but also as one serving their needs and interests."
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"You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them"
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"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."
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"With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help."
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"I have never lived on principles. When I have had to act, I never first asked myself on what principles I was going to act, but I went at it and did what I thought fit. I have often reproached myself for my want of principle."
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"I have found that nothing so deceives your adversaries as telling them the truth."
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"Politics is not a science...but an art."
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