Quotes About Diplomacy

Clay had been able, decade after decade, to quell rancor and bring opposing parties together in compromise. Time and again, he resisted "extremes of opinion" in both North and South. "Whatever he did, he did for the whole country.

I dislike untidy wars, as I dislike untidy peacemaking.

I've been in Scotland more lately than any of you. I tell you, there are twenty sides in that fight, never mind two, and when they get tired throwing things at each other, they'll all turn and stamp on the mediator.

Your husband appears to possess an uncanny gift for seducing his enemies.

Thomas, first Baron Wharton of Wharton, sat in his chair. "Boy," he said. "Listen to me, and learn the first lesson of man, the political animal. When you wage war, you wage it for ever. When war is over, it has never existed...

Boy,' he said. 'Listen to me, and learn the first lesson of man, the political animal. When you wage war, you wage it for ever. When war is over, it has never existed. There is a truce, and there will shortly be a peace between England and Scotland. Crawford of Lymond is the Queen's friend, and my friend, and your friend.

Let us save everyone's faces,' Lymond said, 'while we can. And before Master Buchanan is hurled to the floor by either Nicolas or a thunderbolt from the late Copernicus.

Lymond made no concessions on the grounds of language. If they fought abroad they would be expected as a matter of course to speak as their allies did. If they did not already know several European languages, then they must learn.

You Scotsmen: you wish to be like the elephant, hacked to pieces for refusing to bow. You should follow my rule: here am I, supple and amenable as a goatskin glove of Vendôme and pleasant to all, Duke and dotard alike.

Tact,' Lymond said, 'is the name you should have upon your tombstone.

As the Head of a woman's college she must, thought Harriet, have had a distasteful task; for she looked as though the word 'compromise' had been omitted from her vocabulary; and all statesmanship is compromise.

In the mood of relaxation and confidence that follows on being parboiled, it was easy enough to pump Mrs Weldon. A little diplomacy was needed, so as not to betray the ulterior object of the inquiry, but no detective could have had a more unsuspecting victim.

I said 'dear lady,' explained Ford Prefect, because I didn't want her to be offended by my implication that she was an ignorant cretin-

To be well prepared for war is the best guarantee of peace.

Gentle persuasion succeeds where force fails.

You must always be polite to people whose position forbids them to be rude to you.

Vi pripadate Ligi naroda? -Ja pripadam cijelom svijetu, madame, re?e Poirot dramati?no.

At first, I was polite. Really. I said "excuse me," I tried to squeeze through gaps, even apologized for stepping on some toes. What can I say, I'm Canadian.

Mr Rycroft said nothing. It was so difficult not to say the wrong thing to Captain Wyatt that it was usually safer not to reply at all.

The so-called peace path is not peace and it is not a substitute for jihad and resistance.

Turkey wants a policy of engagement exactly like President Obama's new approach. Policy of engagement, less confrontation, less tense attitude, especially in the region.

Churchill took a much cooler view. 'Trying to maintain good relations with a Communist is like wooing a crocodile,' he told Sir Alan Brooke. 'You do not know whether to tickle it under the chin or to beat it over the head. When it opens its mouth you cannot tell whether it is trying to smile or preparing to eat you up.

The British and Americans were indignant with the Russians for extracting reparations from current German production and in the end refused to allow any more equipment to go to Russia from their zones; but the French, without any fuss and occupying the smallest and poorest territory, extracted proportionately even more than the Russians.

Between June and October the Americans, British and French ended the state of war with Germany