Bismarck........................

Portrait of Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck by Franz von Lenbach   1890

A few quotes attributed to Otto von Bismarck:

They treat me like a fox, a cunning fellow of the first rank. But the truth is that with a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to do with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half.

Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

Politics is the art of the possible.

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

Politics is not an exact science.

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

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

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

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

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



Thanks for the spelling correction, Michael.  We do strive for some semblance of accuracy over here, however..........