Quotes About Diplomacy

Russians. They were in Germany

Stop trusting the freaking Russians. They are not our friend.

Okay, the State Department has been on the horn to their counterparts in Moscow. They are disavowing all knowledge of any of this.

presidents had to make

and the refusal of the Roosevelt administration to recognise the Japanese government imposed on Manchuria.

Pretending to others that your opponents are stupid may sometimes be a sensible tactic. Believing that they are is usually a serious mistake.

When father uses the word 'politics' he's talking about relations between nations. When I use the word, though, I'm talking about the various subtle ways a woman can get men to do what she wants them to do.

As long as people are talking instead of fighting, nobody loses very much blood—unless he happens to bite his tongue.

We can try to act civilized and polite, but at the bottom of it all, the power of any ruler is based on a threat. Fortunately, we don't have to carry that threat out too often.

Qué vamos a hacer? - parece que exclamó Keitel- - ¡Hagan la paz, imbéciles! -le replicó Rundsted-. ¿Qué otra cosa pueden hacer?

What a charming reconciler and peacemaker money is!

As Frederick the Great of Prussia is widely reputed to have said, "Diplomacy without force is like music without instruments.

Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.

A peace is of the nature of a conquest; for then both parties nobly are subdued, and neither party loser.

It hurts not the tongue to give fair words.

Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back: Tells Harry that the King doth offer him Katherine his daughter; and with her to dowry some petty and unprofitable dukedoms: The offer likes not;

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way. —Daniele Vare, Italian diplomat

In my negotiation experience, I've long noticed that the cheapest concession you can make, the one that costs you the least and yields the most, is to give respect.

The Power of a Positive No describes how to say No when it is vital to stand up and protect your core interests and values. It is not just about how to say No, however, but about how to do so in a respectful and constructive manner that can potentially lead to agreement. As its subtitle indicates, it is about how to say No and still get to Yes.

Instead of attacking, focused on taking away the stick.

Take the eighteenth-century general who had fallen into disfavor with the great Prussian warrior king, Frederick the Great. Coming upon the king, the general saluted him with the greatest respect, but Frederick turned his back. "I am happy to see that Your Majesty is no longer angry with me," murmured the general. "How so?" demanded Frederick. "Because Your Majesty has never in his life turned his back on an enemy," replied the general.

She began the conversation with Tom by acknowledging his work and then focused on the problem at hand, sticking strictly to the facts:

If, however, you would like to see the behavior change, it is more effective not to attack the person outright but to focus hard on the problematic behavior.

If you open a door, however, as Diane Nash did with her persistent questions, you offer the other a way out and all your power can be deployed in persuading them to take it. In short, rather than working to frustrate the other, focus on redirecting their attention to a positive outcome.