Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, known as Otto von Bismarck, was a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. In the 1860s he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, significantly and deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871 he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to preserve German hegemony in a Europe which, despite many disputes...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth1 April 1815
CitySchonhausen, Germany
CountryGermany
Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia's weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come - do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play.
The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power ... Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favorable moment, which has already come and gone several times. Since the treaties of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill-designed for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided - that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood (Eisen und Blut).
Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.
The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.
The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.
A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.
Fools you are. To say you learn by your experience. I prefer to profit by others' mistakes and avoid the price of my own.
Let us put Germany, so to speak, in the saddle! you will see that she can ride.
Physicians still retain something of their priestly origin; they would gladly do what they forbid.
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.
Better pointed bullets than pointed words.
Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.
Let them stew in their own grease (or juice).