Henry A. Kissinger Quotes - Page 8

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• The key decision for a statesman is whether to commit his nation or not. There is no middle course. Once a great nation commits itself, it must prevail. It will acquire no kudos for translating its inner doubts into hesitation.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Keys, Government, Decision

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• We have to be careful in negotiating with Iran that we don't create the impression among the Arab states and the Sunni states that we are working on a condominium between Iran and the United States, because that will panic them and drive them into making their own arrangement.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Iran, United States, Panic

  Source: www.nytimes.com

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• In my particular case foreign policy happens to be my hobby, my consuming interest. I had spent decades studying it.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Hobbies, Study, Cases

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• The Chinese military budget today is officially listed as, I think, about $15 billion. But even if you double it, that's only a tenth of ours. So the possibility of China challenging the United States for the next ten years over the Pacific is next to zero. There could be a conflict between us and China over Taiwan, but I think that, too, will not occur with the proper policies on both sides.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Zero, Military, Thinking

  Source: www.pbs.org

  10 Copy quote

• The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Loneliness, Essence, Transcendentalism

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• I do not know what will happen in China politically. I do know that it is impossible to maintain the communist system or probably even a strict one-party system when the economy becomes so pluralistic. Now, what form that takes and what institutions will evolve, I do not have a clear view about. I do not think the United States, as a general principle, ought to intervene in this.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Party, Thinking, Views

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not win. The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Military, War, Army

  "The Vietnam Negotiations". Foreign Affairs, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 214, January 1969.

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• The China of the 1970s was a communist dictatorship. The China of the twenty-first century is a one-party state without a firm ideological foundation, more similar to Mexico under the PRI than Russia under Stalin. But the measurement of the political and the economic evolution has not yet been completed, and is one of the weak points of the system.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Party, Russia, Political

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• Well, the capacity of French intellectuals to understand a Texan way of thinking is finite.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Thinking, Politics, Way

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• Realism in foreign policy means careful consideration of all aspects pertinent to the issue, before taking a decision. This is the only way you can move from where you are to someplace else.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Moving, Mean, Issues

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Funny, Witty, Humorous

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• The art of good foreign policy is to understand and to take into consideration the values of a society, to realize them at the outer limit of the possible.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Art, Limits, Realizing

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I don't know what happens in the next years. But I cannot now design a policy in which we try to keep China from developing, because in some years, if they develop, they might be rich enough to challenge us, and adopt the principle that we will hold down any state that might in the future become strong. That would make us a world empire for which we wouldn't have the talents or the convictions.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Strong, Years, Design

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Every time there has been an attempt to disturb it, it led to two things. It led to immediate intense conflict with China, and it led to a reaffirmation in the end, because nobody wanted a major confrontation with China to this principle of a "one China" policy within which Taiwan is finding a place now. Its own position has greatly improved since the Nixon policy. It is richer, it is stronger and it is participating in many international organizations.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Organization, Two, Stronger

  Source: www.pbs.org

  7 Copy quote

• The emergence of a unified Europe is one of the most revolutionary events of our time.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Europe, Events, Revolutionary

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• In relations with many domestically weak countries, a radio transmitter can be a more effective form of pressure than a squadron B-52s.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Country, Radio, Pressure

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• I also do not believe that the United States can let itself be driven into a political role by escalating terrorism, and therefore, the leaders of the Arab world and Arafat should do their utmost to put an end to this and then the United States should do its utmost to produce a political solution.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Believe, Leader, Political

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• China is a one party state. Sooner or later China will get to the point when the new social classes, which have emerged thanks to economic success, will have to be integrated into the political system. There is no guarantee that this process will run smoothly.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Running, Party, Guarantees That

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The convictions that leaders have formed before reaching high office are the intellectual capital they will consume as long as they continue in office.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Office, Long, Leader

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• It is not often that nations learn from the past,even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Past, Conclusion, Draws

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• I believe that there is a whole set of issues in the world - environment, proliferation, energy, cyberspace - that can only be dealt with on a global basis. The traditional patterns of national rivalry and national competition are not suitable for those cases.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Believe, Issues, Competition

  Source: www.pbs.org

  4 Copy quote

• There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane: Either you have diarrhea, or you're anxious to meet people who do.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Funny, Travel, Humorous

  30 Copy quote

• When I became security advisor, I became familiar with the so-called SIOP war plans, I called in Secretary McNamara and asked him what they were hiding from me, because I couldn't believe that the National policy would foresee such a level of destructiveness.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  War, Believe, Levels

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• We have three things in common: Irish wives, the ability to speak for 17 minutes without a verb, and the fact that we both speak with an accent.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Wife, Three, Verbs

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• Baseball is the most intellectual game because most of the action goes on in your head.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Baseball, Games, Intellectual

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