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Otto von Bismarck

when I have to do with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half

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.

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Otto von Bismarck

Politics is not an exact science.

Politics is not an exact science.

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Otto von Bismarck

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

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

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Otto von Bismarck

conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them

I must protest that I would never seek foreign conflicts just to go over domestic difficulties; that would be frivolous. I was speaking of conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them.

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Otto von Bismarck

by iron and blood

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.

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Otto von Bismarck

Politics is the art of the possible.

Politics is the art of the possible.