“Politics is not an exact science.”

—  Otto von Bismarck

Die Politik ist keine exakte Wissenschaft.
Speech to Prussian upper house (18 December 1863)
Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art.
Expression in the Reichstag (1884), as quoted in The Quote Verifier : Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes
1860s
Variant: Die Politik ist keine Wissenschaft, wie viele der Herren Proffessoren sich einbilden, sondern eine Kunst.

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Otto von Bismarck photo
Otto von Bismarck35
German statesman, Chancellor of Germany 1815–1898

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