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Politics is the art of the possible.

— Otto von Bismarck

Die Politik ist die Lehre vom Möglichen.

Original text (German)

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Source, in full

Interview (11 August 1867) with Friedrich Meyer von Waldeck of the St. Petersburgische Zeitung: Aus den Erinnerungen eines russischen Publicisten. 2. Ein Stündchen beim Kanzler des norddeutschen Bundes. In: Die Gartenlaube (1876) p. 858 de.wikisource. Reprinted in Fürst Bismarck: neue Tischgespräche und Interviews, Vol. 1, p. 248

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More quotes by Otto von Bismarck

Preventive war is like committing suicide for fear of death.

A statesman cannot create anything himself. He must wait and listen until he hears the steps of God sounding through events; then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.

We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world; and it is the fear of God, which lets us love and foster peace.

I am accustomed to pay men back in their own coin.

To the Ultramontanes (1870)

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

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Otto von Bismarck (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.