Top 90 Otto von Bismarck Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”

— Otto von Bismarck

Featured in: Learning Quotes, Clever Quotes, Mistake Quotes

2. “A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.”

— Otto von Bismarck

3. “History is simply a piece of paper covered with print: the main thing is to make history, not to write it.”

— Otto von Bismarck

4. “When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.”

— Otto von Bismarck

5. “Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.”

— Otto von Bismarck

6. “God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.”

— Otto von Bismarck

7. “Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.”

— Otto von Bismarck

8. “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.”

— Otto von Bismarck

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

— Otto von Bismarck

10. “You can’t destroy the polish national-consciousness or Poles on the battlefield, but if you give them power, they will destroy themselves.”

— Otto von Bismarck

11. “The Balkans arent worth the life of a single Pomeranian grenadier.”

— Otto von Bismarck

12. “What we learn from History is that no one learns from History.”

— Otto von Bismarck

13. “It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.”

— Otto von Bismarck

Featured in: Strong Quotes

14. “The Americans are a very lucky people. They’re bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish.”

— Otto von Bismarck

15. “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best.”

— Otto von Bismarck

16. “Great men have great dogs.”

— Otto von Bismarck

17. “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”

— Otto von Bismarck

18. “A Bavarian is half-way between an Austrian and a human being.”

— Otto von Bismarck

19. “Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.”

— Otto von Bismarck

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

— Otto von Bismarck

21. “Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful, the most useful.”

— Otto von Bismarck

22. “Fools you are who say you like to learn from your mistakes. I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid the cost of my own.”

— Otto von Bismarck

23. “Life is like being at the dentist. You always think the worst is still to come, and it is over already.”

— Otto von Bismarck

24. “We live in a wondrous time in which the strong is weak because of his moral scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.”

— Otto von Bismarck

Featured in: Strong Quotes

25. “Vanity is a mortgage that must be deducted from the value of a man.”

— Otto von Bismarck

26. “The statesman’s task is to hear God’s footsteps marching through history, and to try and catch on to His coattails as He marches past.”

— Otto von Bismarck

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

— Otto von Bismarck

28. “This policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron.”

— Otto von Bismarck

29. “Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.”

— Otto von Bismarck

30. “A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.”

— Otto von Bismarck

31. “The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they’ll sleep at night.”

— Otto von Bismarck

32. “A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.”

— Otto von Bismarck

33. “No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.”

— Otto von Bismarck

34. “He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.”

— Otto von Bismarck

35. “I have only one ambition left: I should like to have a good epitaph.”

— Otto von Bismarck

36. “Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.”

— Otto von Bismarck

37. “A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.”

— Otto von Bismarck

38. “The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.”

— Otto von Bismarck

39. “Our German forefathers had a very kind religion. They believed that, after death, they would meet again all the good dogs that had been their companions in life. I wish I could believe that too.”

— Otto von Bismarck

40. “Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art.”

— Otto von Bismarck

41. “The luxury of one’s own opinion.”

— Otto von Bismarck

42. “Life has taught me to forgive much, but to seek forgiveness still more.”

— Otto von Bismarck

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

— Otto von Bismarck

44. “I have wished to crush Rome that I might crush Christianity.”

— Otto von Bismarck

45. “You can do anything with children if you only play with them.”

— Otto von Bismarck

46. “Better pointed bullets than pointed words.”

— Otto von Bismarck

47. “God always looks after the fools and – and the United States.”

— Otto von Bismarck

48. “My subject is my life, and my life is my subject.”

— Otto von Bismarck

49. “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

50. “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.”

— Otto von Bismarck

Featured in: Firsts Quotes