Quotes About Diplomacy

Without prior notice to the other powers or even to the State Department officials concerned with the consortium, Wilson proceeded to inform the press that the American group in the consortium would no longer have the support of the government.

Your decision not to participate in conflict

conflict doesn't have to mean combat.

that the Rhineland should be occupied by an international force until the dispute with Hitler can be resolved, the

The essence of foreign policy, is deciding which son of a bitch to support -in 1941, Hitler or Stalin; in 1972, Brezhnev or Mao; in 1979, Somoza or Ortega. One has to choose. A blanket anti-son of a bitch policy, like a blanket anti-ethnic cleansing policy, is soothing, satisfying and empty. It is not a policy at all but righteous self-delusion.

Highfalutin moral principles are impossible guides to foreign policy. At worst, they reflect hypocrisy; at best, extreme naivete.

America is daily attacked for cowboy interventionism and arrogant unilateralism--then simultaneously attacked for not acting unilaterally to cleanse the planet of all tyranny.

The point of the superpower is not to invade, it's not to drop the bombs, it's to be so strong that when you issue a warning, secretly or publicly, the other guy who listens and doesn't do it.

Arafat was a barrier to peace.

You had to speak softly and carry a big stick.

Once we understand how they think, we can predict their behaviour. And once we predict it well, we can manipulate it. That is diplomacy.

For if I knew how to please you, I would never, if I could help it, offend.

I never say the things I really want to. If I did, I'd have no friends.

We sincerely ask the Beijing authorities across the Strait to view the election result from a positive perspective, to accept the democratic decision of the Taiwanese people.

I trust the time is nigh when, with the universal assent of civilized people, all international differences shall be determined without resort to arms by the benignant processes of civilization.

War can be avoided, and it ought to be avoided. I want no war.

If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian he can live in peace.

It required a strong heart to stand up against such talk, but I urged my people to be quiet and not to begin a war.

I said in my heart that, rather than have war, I would give up my country.

For the world to follow, we must do more than rattle our sabers and demand allegiance to our vision simply because we believe we are right. We must provide a reason for others to aspire to that vision. And that reason must come with more than the repetition of a bumper-sticker phrase about freedom and democracy. It must come with more than the restatement of failed policy. It must come with the wisdom to admit when we are wrong and resolve to change course and get it right.

What this planet needs is more mistletoe and less missile-talk.

You are not going to get peace with millions of armed men. The chariot of peace cannot advance over a road littered with cannon.

...there hardly ever existed such a thing as a bad Peace — or a good War...

Peace is the short interval when nations toil to pay the costs of past and future wars.