Politics is the art of the next best.

The words of Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Germany, strike with the hard wisdom of one who shaped empires: “Politics is the art of the next best.” In these words, he reveals that governance is not the pursuit of perfection, but the mastery of compromise. To rule is not to grasp the ideal, but to wrestle with reality, to take what can be achieved today while preparing for what may be won tomorrow. This is not weakness, but strategy; not surrender, but the patience of one who knows that history is built stone by stone, never all at once.

For in the world of politics, ideals are often too pure for the rough hands of men. The noble vision must bend to circumstance, lest it be shattered altogether. The leader who demands only the perfect will achieve nothing; the one who accepts the next best secures progress, however small, and preserves the strength to fight another day. Thus Bismarck teaches us that true wisdom is not to wait for paradise, but to wrest fragments of justice, unity, or peace from the chaos of human affairs.

Consider Bismarck’s own life. He dreamed of a unified Germany, yet he knew such a vision could not be seized in one stroke. Through wars carefully chosen, treaties skillfully balanced, and compromises reluctantly embraced, he forged the German Empire in 1871. It was not the perfect unity that poets imagined—some lands remained outside, and divisions persisted—but it was the next best, and in its strength Germany became a power that reshaped Europe. His legacy was not in chasing dreams beyond reach, but in securing what could be grasped and building upon it.

History repeats this lesson. When the American founders crafted their Constitution, they too sought the next best. They could not abolish slavery without breaking the fragile union, yet they forged a framework that allowed for survival and future growth. The imperfections of that moment did not erase the greatness of their achievement—it only showed that politics is always the art of securing what can be secured, while leaving the door open for the battles yet to come.

So let this truth endure: to lead is to accept the limits of the hour without abandoning the hope of tomorrow. The art of the next best is not cowardice but courage, not weakness but wisdom. For in this fallen world, perfection is seldom possible, but progress is always within reach. And those who can take the next best step, again and again, will one day find themselves closer to the summit than those who never left the valley in search of the ideal.