Quotes About Diplomacy

I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.

The Bush Administration's failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world.

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.

America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists.

America's strong bonds with Israel are well known - this bond is unbreakable.

President Bush in his inaugural address talked about bringing freedom to countries that don't have it. He didn't specify how.

I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States.

I have often wondered whether it is really a good thing to be honest by nature and upbringing; certainly it is not a good thing socially, for I feel sure that the tea-party would have been more successful had I not explained that the tea was really Indian which I had unfortunately made too weak.

Only Nicky [Nicholas Romanov II], the Czar, was [Kaiser Wilhelm]'s friend, neither clever nor strong like himself, but at least malleable.

Had all the world been a school and Wilson its principal, he would have been the greatest statesman in history.

Diplomacy's primary law: LEAVE ROOM FOR NEGOTIATION.

In addition to grand estate, Coucy clearly possessed a personal power of attraction and a faculty for not making enemies.

Marco Polo dictated his Travels in French,

Party animosity was concealed under a veil of studied courtesy.

John Quincy Adams' dictum that wherever the standard of liberty was unfurled in the world, "there will be America's heart … but she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.

He accomplished wonders of diplomacy on the principle, never give way, and never give offense.

Chairs were few; even kings and popes received ambassadors sitting on beds furnished with elaborate curtains and spreads;

To understand the popes we must look at the princes.

Why do we invest all our skills and resources in a contest for armed superiority which can never be attained for long enough to make it worth having, rather than in an effort to find a modus vivendi with our antagonist—that is to say, a way of living, not dying?

Ending a war is a difficult and delicate business. Even intelligent rulers, when they exist, often find themselves unable to terminate a war, should they want to. Each side must become convinced at the same time and with equal certainty that its war aim is either not achievable or not worth the cost or damage to the state.

We must put aside all commonplaces as to the responsibility of the aggressor.… Success alone justifies war.

The art of oratory was considered part of the equipment of a statesman.

had said, "The greatest contribution Vietnam is making … is developing an ability in the United States to fight a limited war, to go to war without arousing the public ire.

Europe was a heap of swords piled as delicately as jackstraws; one could not be pulled out without moving the others. Under