Quotes About Diplomacy

'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign world.

There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.

My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration of the government, to be upon friendly terms with, but independent of, all the nations of the earth. To share in the broils of none. To fulfil our own engagements. To supply the wants, and be carriers for them all: Being thoroughly convinced that it is our policy and interest to do so.

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations to have as little political connection as possible... Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalships, interest, humor, or caprice?... It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.

There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation. 'Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

It is easier to make war than peace.

A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service.

When Ali Agca, a Turk, shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, both the target and the would-be killer were well within Vatican territory," wrote George Armstrong, the respected Rome correspondent for London's Guardian. "The Vatican was happy to have him arrested, tried and sentenced in Italy, and under Italian law, and his life sentence will be at the expense of the Italian taxpayer. The Vatican becomes another country only when it chooses to be.

Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. But then he has much to be modest about.

Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy, is the best bred in the company.

In statesmanship get formalities right, never mind about the moralities.

I believe in using words, not fists.

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone have your way.

Neutrality, as a lasting principle, is an evidence of weakness.

I do not stand on protocol. If you just call me Excellency, it will be okay.

It is easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar.

Never speak of a man in his own presence. It is always indelicate, and may be offensive .

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull. This is not always easy to achieve.

The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence.

Politics. The diplomatic name for the law of the jungle.

No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.

Jeane Kirkpatrick

If you can't bite, don't show your teeth.