Otto von Bismarck's best-known quotes – real and attributed
The top 3 according to 0 votes from people: Rest assured, we are not going to Canossa, neither in body nor in spirit. · Let us put Germany in the saddle, so to speak. It will know how to ride. · We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.. (Updated Apr 19, 2024.)
From not going to Canossa and Germany in the saddle to the sausages he never actually mentioned: Bismarck's most famous lines with their source, from Reichstag speeches and letters.
Automatically translated (original in Deutsch). See the original
Top 13
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1
Rest assured, we are not going to Canossa, neither in body nor in spirit.
Speech in the Reichstag, 14 May 1872.
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2
Let us put Germany in the saddle, so to speak. It will know how to ride.
Speech in the North German Reichstag, 11 March 1867.
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3
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.
Speech in the Reichstag, 6 February 1888.
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4
Whoever has his thumb on the purse has the power.
Speech in the North German Reichstag, 21 May 1869.
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5
A majority has many hearts, but it has no heart.
Speech in the Reichstag, 12 June 1882.
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6
An idea that is right cannot be lied down for ever.
Speech in the Reichstag, 12 June 1882.
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7
We Germans kill time with few things as much as with drinking beer.
Speech in the Reichstag, 28 March 1881.
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8
A good horse dies in harness.
Speech in the Reichstag, 4 March 1881.
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9
No government is as harmful to the country's interests as a weak one.
To Hermann Hofmann, editor of the Hamburger Nachrichten, in the 1890s.
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10
Frankness always deserves recognition.
Speech in the Prussian Second Chamber, 24 November 1849.
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11
Grant that I may see my Johanna again.
Last words, 30 July 1898.
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12
Politics is the art of the possible.
Attributed; recorded in substance from a conversation on 11 August 1867.
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13
Laws are like sausages: it is better not to see them being made.
Attributed, with no evidence Bismarck said it.
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