Politics is the art of the possible.
Use itEssay/GS2 on pragmatic policymaking; balancing ideals with feasibility in governance.
Quotes / Thinkers / Otto von Bismarck
Thinker · 10 quotes
Otto von Bismarck quotes for UPSC
10 sourced quotes by Otto von Bismarck on governance & administration, economy, development & poverty, peace, non-violence & conflict, equality & social justice, power & corruption, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
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The politician has not to revenge what has happened but to ensure that it does not happen again.
— Otto von BismarckIn 1867, following public criticism of courtesy shown to the defeated Napoleon III after the battle of Sedan, as quoted in A. J. P. Taylor,
Use itGS4/GS2: governance should be preventive and reformative, not vengeful, after a crisis.
I am not antagonistic to the rightful claims of capital; I am far from wanting to flourish a hostile flag; but I am of opinion that the masses, too, have rights which should be considered.
— Otto von BismarckSpeech to the Reichstag (14 June 1882), quoted in W. H. Dawson, Bismarck and State Socialism: An Exposition of the Social and Economic Legis
Use itEssay on capital vs labour; balance investors' rights with workers' rights in growth.
The social insecurity of the worker is the real cause of their being a peril to the state.
— Otto von BismarckSpeech to the Landtag (18 October 1849), quoted in Henry E. Sigerist, 'From Bismarck to Beveridge: Developments and Trends in Social Securit
Use itGS2/GS3 on social security for workers; insecurity of labour as a threat to state stability.
In the domain of political economy the abstract doctrines of science leave me perfectly cold, my only standard of judgment being experience.
— Otto von BismarckAs quoted in W. H. Dawson, Bismarck and State Socialism: An Exposition of the Social and Economic Legislation of Germany since 1870 (1891),
Use itGS3 on evidence-based economic policy; prefer experience over abstract ideological doctrines.
Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.
— Otto von BismarckQuoted as a remark of Bismark without quotation marks, in Thinking About the Unthinkable in the 1980s (1984) by , p. 136, a paraphrase of wh
Use itEssay on war and diplomacy; preemptive war as self-destructive folly.
A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.
— Otto von BismarckSpeech to North German Reichstag (24 September 1867)
Use itGS3 internal/external security; diplomacy needs backing of credible military deterrence.
He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.
Use itGS2 on legislative control over finance; power of the purse and fiscal federalism.
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.
Use itGS1 world history: Bismarck's realpolitik approach to German unification.
Struggle is everywhere, without struggle no life, and if we want to go on living, we must be ready for further struggles.
— Otto von BismarckAs quoted in A. J. P. Taylor, Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman (1955), p. 203
Use itLife: struggle is part of living; prepare for continued effort in the preparation journey.