“Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great questions of the time decided — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood.”

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

“One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).”

“man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer”

“Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.”

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

“Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful, the most useful.”