Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt.
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.
One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (said in 1888).
Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.
The main thing is to make history, not to write it.
God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.
There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.
When you say you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
Politics is the art of the next best.
With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.