“At no time there is more lying than before the elections, during the war and after the hunt.”
The earliest attestation is: A representative of the "Löwe faction" also aptly remarked: "There is never more lying than before the elections, during the war and after the hunt.", in: Im neuen Reich. Wochenschrift für das Leben des deutschen Volkes in Staat, Wissenschaft und Kunst. Volume 9 (1879), 1st semivolume, p. 199 books.google http://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=TO0aAAAAYAAJ&q=jagd.
The witticism was first attributed to Bismarck in printed form, as far as it is clear, in Zeitschrift für Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten. Im Auftrage der Deutschen Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten. Volume 2 (1904) p. 283 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=ZwETAQAAMAAJ&q=jagd: "[...] when Bismarck would have repeated his well-known word about the instances in which the most lying occurs, out of the three mentioned by him (before an election, during a war, after a hunt), he would certainly have to put pelvic inflammatory disease in women first."
Before this, it always went without naming an author as a "witticism" in 1895 http://books.google.de/books?id=stoYAQAAIAAJ&q=gelogen, as "the proverbial answer to the question when the most lying occurs" in 1897 http://books.google.de/books?id=ZkoxAQAAMAAJ&q=gelogen, as "an old story" in 1898 http://books.google.de/books?id=LzkZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22einer+jagd%22 and as "what one usually says" in 1901 http://books.google.de/books?id=sjsZAAAAYAAJ&q=gelogen. Die Neue Zeit - Wochenschrift der deutschen Sozialdemokratie even spoke of a "self-admission" of Bismarck in 1906 http://books.google.de/books?id=YtY5AQAAMAAJ&q=gelogen; however, the fellow social democratic magazine Das freie Wort attributed it to an unnamed representative of the Zentrumspartei in that same year http://books.google.de/books?id=LjQ8AQAAIAAJ&q=%22mehr+gelogen%22.
Misattributed
Original: "Es wird niemals so viel gelogen wie vor der Wahl, während des Krieges und nach der Jagd."
Original
Es wird niemals so viel gelogen wie vor der Wahl, während des Krieges und nach der Jagd.
Erstmals feststellbar 1879 als: Auch bemerkte ein Abgeordneter aus der „Gruppe Löwe" treffend: „Es wird nie mehr gelogen als vor der Wahl, während des Krieges und nach der Jagd.", in: Im neuen Reich. Wochenschrift für das Leben des deutschen Volkes in Staat, Wissenschaft und Kunst. Band 9 (1879), 1. Halbband, S. 199 books.google http://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=TO0aAAAAYAAJ&q=jagd.
Ebenfalls ohne Bezugnahme auf Bismarck 1882 als "Es werden, lieber Freund, niemals so viel Unwahrheiten gesagt, wie in einem Kriege, nach einer Jagd und vor einer Wahl", in: „Wie mein Freund Reichstagsabgeordneter wurde. Humoreske“ von Emil Dominik in: „Über Land und Meer. Allgemeine Illustrirte Zeitung“ 1882 Nr. 7, S. 136 archive.org https://archive.org/stream/UeberLandUndMeer471882/Ueber%20Land%20und%20Meer%2047%20%281882%29#page/n127/mode/2up mittlere Spalte
Bismarck wurde das Bonmot in gedruckter Form, soweit ersichtlich, erstmals 1904 zugeschrieben in Zeitschrift für Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten. Im Auftrage der Deutschen Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten. Band 2 (1904) S. 283 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=ZwETAQAAMAAJ&q=jagd: "[...] wenn Bismarck sein bekanntes Wort über die Gelegenheiten, bei welchen am meisten gelogen wird, zu wiederholen hätte, so müßte er den von ihm genannten dreien (vor einer Wahl, während eines Krieges, nach einer Jagd) jedenfalls die Unterleibsentzündung der Frau voranschicken."
Zuvor war jeweils ohne Nennung eines Urhebers 1895 http://books.google.de/books?id=stoYAQAAIAAJ&q=gelogen von "Bonmot", 1897 http://books.google.de/books?id=ZkoxAQAAMAAJ&q=gelogen von "der sprichwörtlichen Beantwortung der Frage, wann am meisten gelogen wird", 1898 http://books.google.de/books?id=LzkZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22einer+jagd%22 von einer "alte[n] Geschichte" und 1901 http://books.google.de/books?id=sjsZAAAAYAAJ&q=gelogen von "man pflegt zu sagen" die Rede gewesen. Die Neue Zeit - Wochenschrift der deutschen Sozialdemokratie sprach zwar 1906 http://books.google.de/books?id=YtY5AQAAMAAJ&q=gelogen von einem "Selbstbekenntnis" Bismarcks; die ebenfalls sozialdemokratische Zeitschrift Das freie Wort schrieb es im selben Jahr http://books.google.de/books?id=LjQ8AQAAIAAJ&q=%22mehr+gelogen%22 allerdings einem nicht namhaft gemachten Abgeordneten der Zentrumspartei zu.
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Otto von Bismarck 35
German statesman, Chancellor of Germany 1815–1898Related quotes
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Also published in Chips Off the Old Benchley http://books.google.com/books?id=1-gHw9bqQqAC&q=%22A+dog+teaches+a+boy+fidelity+perseverance+and+to+turn+around+three+times+before+lying+down%22&pg=PA94#v=onepage (1949)
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2000s