Some famous person, possibly in the 18th or 19th century, once said
something like "anybody who claims to understand europe is lying." I
don't remember the exact quote. The meaning was, european diplomacy
and politics are so complicated and esoteric that any attempt to
explain anything simply is bound to be wrong, and/or nobody can
possibly understand everything.

Who said it, and what's the exact quote?

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 21 Oct 2002 05:10 PDT

Dear spolsky,

Is it possible that the orginal quote referred to the dukedoms of
Schleswig-Holstein, still Danish provinces until 1864 and with a
historical and political background so complicated that no one was
able to understand it? Since these dukedoms were a notable object of
European political crisis between 1848 and 1864, an important and
famous British politician said something quite famous about this. Do
you think this could be the topic of the quotation?

Regards,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by spolsky-ga on 21 Oct 2002 07:38 PDT

that might be it. When I hear the quotation I'll know if it was the
one I was thinking of :)

The gist of the quotation was either "look, don't pretend to
understand it, it's too complicated" OR "anything you can say about
something that complicated is bound to be an oversimplification"

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 21 Oct 2002 09:12 PDT

Dear spolsky,

Normally, Google Answers does not allow "trial answers" ... but in
this case, the danger of making a mistake is rather big, so I will
tell you what I think might be the quotation you are looking for. If
you consider it to be the right one, simply let me know and I will
post it as a "regular" answer.

"The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in
Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert,who is dead. The
second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I
have forgotten all about it."

This quotation is attributed to Lord Palmerston, British Prime
Minister in the 1860s, who was commenting the perpetual crisis
concerning the dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein on the Jutland
peninsula, which finally led to the German-Danish War of 1864.
However, there is no proof Palmerston really ever said or wrote this.
Rather it seems to be a synopsis of what he said in Parliament.

Let me know what you think about this quote.
Regards,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by spolsky-ga on 21 Oct 2002 10:16 PDT

That is not the quote I'm looking for, but it is good enough for my
needs. So answer it and I'll pay for it, then I'll repost my question
to see if anyone can find the original quote I had in mind. Thanks!

Dear spolsky,

According to your wishes, I hereby post my suggestion as an answer.

"The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in
Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert,who is dead. The
second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I
have forgotten all about it."
 
This quotation is attributed to Lord Palmerston, British Prime
Minister in the 1860s, who was commenting the perpetual crisis
concerning the dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein on the Jutland
peninsula, which finally led to the German-Danish War of 1864.
However, there is no proof Palmerston really ever said or wrote this.
Rather it seems to be a synopsis of what he said in Parliament.

I did not search for this quotation since I already knew it from my
history studies about Schleswig-Holstein. I only did some background
research, hoping to find the exact source. This remained, alas,
fruitless. Nevertheless, this quote can be found literally hundereds
of times, with minor variations (sometimes, the "German professor" is
a "Danish statesman").

Suggested search terms for additional research on this special quote:
palmerston "schleswig-holstein":
://www.google.de/search?q=palmerston+%22schleswig-holstein%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=

Thank you very much for your generosity and best regards,
Scriptor

This works for me, thanks!

Hello spolsky,

The closest thing I came up with is something along the lines of :

"To understand Europe, you have to be a genius - or French"

I don't suppose this could be on the right track?

SgtCory

unfortunately I don't think that's the quote I was looking for, since
it implies that the French understand Europe :) Also it is by Madeline
Albright who is still alive, I think the quote I remember was by
someone living at least 100 years ago.

I will go out on a limb and say my memory of the original quote may be
flawed, it may not have referred to Europe, it might have been
something like the Byzantine empire? I'm sorry for making this vaguer
than it started out but I know the quote is out there somewhere...