Painterly old balance scale weighing an apple against a grey stone on a dark background.

Original artwork, not a still

Otto von Bismarck

Politics is not an exact science.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The remark suggests that politics cannot be reduced to formulas or precise calculation. Governing involves judgment amid circumstances that resist certainty. Its understated phrasing acknowledges the limits of prediction, presenting political decisions as something less orderly than a problem with one demonstrably correct answer.

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