“There is a special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States of America.”

This saying appears as early as 1849 in the form "the special providence over the United States and little children", attributed to Abbé Correa. There is no good evidence that Bismarck ever repeated it. See talk page for more details.
Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 30, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There is a special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States of America." by Otto von Bismarck?
Otto von Bismarck photo
Otto von Bismarck 35
German statesman, Chancellor of Germany 1815–1898

Related quotes

Simón Bolívar photo

“The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.”

Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) Venezuelan military and political leader, South American libertador

Statement of 1829, as quoted in The Great Fear : The Reconquest of Latin America by Latin Americans (1963) by John Gerassi
Variant translations:
[The United States] appears destined by Providence to plague America with miseries in the name of Freedom.
As quoted in Simón Bolívar : Essays on the Life and Legacy of the Liberator (2008) by David Bushnell and Lester D. Langley, p. 135
The United States seems destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.
As quoted in Latin American Evangelical Theology in the 1970's : The Golden Decade (2009) by J. D. S. Salinas and Daniel Salinas, p. 38

Barack Obama photo

“There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, State of the Union Address (January 2015)
Context: You know, just over a decade ago, I gave a speech in Boston where I said there wasn’t a liberal America or a conservative America; a black America or a white America -- but a United States of America.



Context: There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there's the United States of America.

Gerald Ford photo

“By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation”

Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American politician, 38th President of the United States (in office from 1974 to 1977)

1970s, Proclamation 4417 (1976)

Warren Buffett photo

“Never bet against the United States of America”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Ernesto Che Guevara photo

“Our enemy, and the enemy of all America, is the monopolistic government of the United States of America.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

On Revolutionary Medicine (1960)

Prem Rawat photo

“If this guy is God, then this is the God that the United States of America deserves.”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

Abbie Hoffman in 1973. Available on a video that can be downloaded from the internet
Undated

Abbie Hoffman photo

“If this guy is God, then this is the God that the United States of America deserves.”

Abbie Hoffman (1936–1989) American political and social activist

Comment about Maharaji Ji - video http://www.gurumaharaji.info/video/lord_of_the_universe/abbie_hoffman_to_end.wmv (1973).

Manly P. Hall photo

“European mysticism was not dead at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government for the signature of the mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United states of America.”

Manly P. Hall (1901–1990) Canadian writer and mystic

Source: The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928), p. xc
Context: European mysticism was not dead at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government for the signature of the mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United states of America. Careful analysis of the seal discloses a mass of occult and Masonic symbols chief among them, the so-called American Eagle. … the American eagle upon the Great Seal is but a conventionalized phoenix... Not only were many of the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few. The Great Seal is the signature of this exalted body —unseen and for the most part unknown — and the unfinished pyramid upon its reverse side is a trestleboard setting forth symbolically the task to the accomplishment of which the United States Government was dedicated from the day of its inception.

Herman Cain photo

“You mess with Israel, you are messing with the United States of America.”

Herman Cain (1945) American writer, businessman and activist

Fox News, 2011-05-20, quoted in
Context: Let me be clear. I am, you know, exploring this whole Presidential run. Let me just tell you what the Cain Doctrine would be as it relates to Israel, if I were President: You mess with Israel, you are messing with the United States of America. It's that simple. I want to protect that relationship because they have been our only consistent ally in that part of the world.

“There are more whooping cranes in the United States of America than there are women in Congress.”

Joanna Russ (1937–2011) American author

Part 4, Chapter 8 (p. 61)
Fiction, The Female Man (1975)

Related topics