Otto von Bismarck

"The great men are the ones who think like philosophers but act like soldiers"

"To have a good conscience is to have everything"

"The duty of a statesman is to keep pace with events or lead them"

"A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age"

"Progress is not an accident but a necessity"

"I have been threatened, beaten, imprisoned, and condemned, but never forgotten"

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

"The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and majority decisions, but by iron and blood."

"A statesman who extends his power by conquest must lose it by revolt."

"I have always found that anxiety and impatience are the diseases of democracies."

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

"There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States."

"The secret of politics is to make the positive case for what you want to achieve."

"Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death."

"After I am dead, the crash will come."

"The whole of the Balkans is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier."

"Fools say they learn by experience; I prefer to profit by others' experience."

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

"A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age."

"When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice."

"Politics is not a science but an art."

"I am accustomed to paying men exactly what they are worth."

"The statesman's primary duty is to do what is necessary for the safety and prosperity of his state."

"Concentration is my motto - first one enemy at a time."

"Germany will be either a world power or it will not be at all."

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

"The secret of diplomacy is to say 'nice doggie' while looking for a rock."

"To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making."

"A Machiavelli must from time to time act against his own interests."

"The healthy bones of a single Prussian grenadier are worth more than all the Balkans."