Quotes About Diplomacy

It takes 5 to 7 years to turn a novice into a case officer capable of working in the capitals of the world.

Far ahead of his time, and to the criticism of isolationists in his own party, Roosevelt tried to get the major nations of the world to come together and take stock of the globe they shared.

18. Notice how I take "you" out of the sentence to avoid finger-pointing, even though it's implicit. "Normally, you make priorities clear" sounds like a backhanded insult. If this is a significant other, you can skip this formality, but never use "you always do X," which is just a fight starter.

If I have nothing positive to say, I don't say anything.

The words of an ambassador are always other-centered. Consider the problem ("according to their needs")

My words must be shaped by your need. An ambassador's words always address the person's true need of the moment.

Ambassadorial communication

An ambassador seeks to speak the right thing in the best way.

What would have happened if Poland, rather than the Soviet Union, had accepted Joachim von Ribbentrop's proposals in 1939? Would the Soviet Union have withstood an invasion of Germany allied with Poland and, perhaps, Romania and Hungary as well? That Germany and Poland did not make an alliance, and that Germany and the Soviet Union did, is perhaps the single crucial fact about the war.

Churchill did what others had not done. Rather than concede in advance, he forced Hitler to change his plans.

When Winston Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, Great Britain was alone. The British had won no meaningful battles and had no important allies.

There are laws for peace as well as war.

War is just to those to whom war is necessary.

We don't have a writ to enter." "But I have diplomatic immunity." Ixtli found a window that was loose, and with some persuading, forced it open. "Care to accompany me lest my life be threatened and an incident between our respective countries occurs?

It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly.

If you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better abandon the ocean.

I don't aim to offend.

It is not difficult to govern. All one has to do is not to offend the noble families.

I don't want to offend people.

I want to be careful when I'm breaking down matches because I don't want to offend anybody or knock anybody's work. It took me a long time to get where I was at, so I know how it feels when someone knocks on you.

We don't want to cross too many lines or offend the parents at all.

I apologize if anybody was offended by anything I said.

I don't want to go about offending people; that's not my plan.

We don't like offending anyone.