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Business
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When a man says that he approves something in principal, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it in practice.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Conversation
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Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Deception/Lying
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People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Fear
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An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Government
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Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
-Otto von Bismarck
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A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.
-Otto von Bismarck
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History
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The main thing is to make history, not to write it.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Hypocrisy
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When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
-Otto von Bismarck, addressing hypocrisy
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Journalism
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A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Learning
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No, a fool learns from experience. A wise man learns from the experience of others.
-Otto von Bismarck, reply when told that a wise man learns from experience
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Manners
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With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Nudity
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I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Politics
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Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable...the art of the next best.
-Otto von Bismarck, Remark to Prince Meyer von Waldeck, August 11, 1867
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Power
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The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
-Otto von Bismarck
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Questions
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The great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron.
-Otto von Bismarck, Speech Declaration to the Prussian House of Delegates, September 29, 1862
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Strength
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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
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Truth
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When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
-Otto von Bismarck
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War
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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
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Books by and about Otto von Bismarck