Have you ever heard the tragedy of von Bismarck the Iron? / I thought not. It isn't a story the French would tell you. Von Bismarck was a Chancellor of Prussia so intelligent, and so nationalist, he could use politics to manipulate Europe to create Germany... He had such a knowledge of Realpolitik that he could even keep the nation he loved from dying. Germany became so powerful, that the only thing he was afraid of was losing it, which eventually, of course it did. Unfortunately, the new Kaiser was most unwise, then he was dismissed as Chancellor. Ironic. He could create Germany with intelligence, but he could not grant it.

A Did You Ever Hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? post.

The taxi driver says "you know what the problem with this city is?" and you know you're not getting out of this one. It's a 25-minute ride. He needs 40. Your hairdresser has the scissors by your ear when she asks if she ever told you about her divorce. You can't leave. You have half a fringe. Your dad slows the car outside the house he grew up in. "See that tree?" Nobody asked about the tree. You're going to hear about the tree. A coworker sits down next to you with a coffee and says "so I had the weirdest dream". It isn't weird. It is, however, very long. **Why it caught on:** in Revenge of the Sith (2005) Palpatine leans over in his box at the opera and asks Anakin whether he ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise - "I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you." The whole monologue became a copypasta, pasted in full into comment threads at the slightest excuse, and its opening line stands for any story nobody asked to hear.

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