The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.

Politics is the art of the next best.

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

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

All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.

Politics ruins the character.

An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.

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

A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.

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

Politics is not an exact science.

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

Politics is the art of the possible.

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