Otto von Bismarck Quotes

26 Sourced Quotes

Place in the hands of the King of Prussia the strongest possible military power, then he will be able to carry out the policy you wish; this policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron.

Otto von Bismarck
I am bored; the great things are done. The German Reich is made.

Otto von Bismarck
Man cannot create the current of events. He can only float with it and steer.

Otto von Bismarck
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world; and it is the fear of God, which lets us love and foster peace.

Otto von Bismarck
[The greatest political fact of modern times is] the inherited and permanent fact that North America speaks English.

Otto von Bismarck
He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

Otto von Bismarck
Of possible German intervention in the Balkans:
I shall not advise any participation in the war as long as no German interest shall be called in question that may be considered worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.

Otto von Bismarck
Let us…put Germany in the saddle! She will know well enough how to ride!

Otto von Bismarck
When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it into practice.

Otto von Bismarck
Let us lift Germany, so to speak, into the saddle. Surely when that is achieved, it will succeed at riding as well.

Otto von Bismarck
There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America.
Variant: God looks after children, idiots, drunks and the U.S.A.

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

Otto von Bismarck
I do not regard the procuring of peace as a matter in which we should play the role of arbiter between different opinions…more that of an honest broker who really wants to press the business forward.

Otto von Bismarck
A conquering army on the border will not be halted by the power of eloquence.

Otto von Bismarck
Your map of Africa is all very fine, but my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia and here is France, and we are in the middle; that is my map of Africa.
On colonial policy

Otto von Bismarck
Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong, [it is] a geographical concept.

Otto von Bismarck
Let us put Germany in the saddle, so to speak— it already knows how to ride.

Otto von Bismarck
Only a completely ready state can permit the luxury of a liberal government.

Otto von Bismarck
The weak are strong because they are reckless. The strong are weak because they have scruples.

Otto von Bismarck
Europe today is a powder keg and the leaders are like men smoking in an arsenal … A single spark will set off an explosion that will consume us all … I cannot tell you when that explosion will occur, but I can tell you where … Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans will set it off.

Otto von Bismarck
If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.

Otto von Bismarck
The great questions of the time are not decided by speeches and majority decisions—that was the error of 1848 and 1849 —but by iron and blood.

Otto von Bismarck
A statesman cannot create anything himself. He must wait and listen until he hears the steps of God sounding through events; then leap up and grasp the hem of his garment.

Otto von Bismarck
Politics is the art of the possible.

Otto von Bismarck
Woe to the statesman who does not seek in these times a case for war that still holds up after the war is over.

Otto von Bismarck
Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.

Otto von Bismarck