"At no time there is more lying than before the elections, during the war and after the hunt. (Original: "Es wird niemals so viel gelogen wie vor der Wahl, während des Krieges und nach der Jagd.")"
— Otto von Bismarck

January 1, 1970

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Military leaders from GermanyPrussiansChancellors of GermanyGerman foreign ministersMinisters of Germany
Original Language: English

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Before this, it always went without naming an author as a "witticism" in 1895, as "the proverbial answer to the question when the most lying occurs" in 1897, as "an old story" in 1898 and as "what one usually says" in 1901. Die Neue Zeit - Wochenschrift der deutschen Sozialdemokratie even spoke of a "self-admission" of Bismarck in 1906; however, the fellow social democratic magazine Das freie Wort attributed it to an unnamed representative of the Zentrumspartei in that same year.