Henry Kissinger Quotes

The bargaining position of the victor always diminishes with time. Whatever is not exacted during the shock of defeat becomes increasingly difficult to attain later.

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

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room each believing himself in mortal peril from the other whom he assumes to have perfect vision.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

A turbulent history has taught Chinese leaders that not every problem has a solution and that too great an emphasis on total mastery over specific events could upset the harmony of the universe.

Intelligence is not all that important in the exercise of power and is often in point of fact useless. Just as a leader doesn't need intelligence a man in my job doesn't need too much of it either.

Now when I bore people at a party they think it's their fault.

Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.

A conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if it does not lose.

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

The acquisition of knowledge from books provides an experience different from the Internet. Reading is relatively time-consuming; to ease the process, style is important. Because it is not possible to read all books on a given subject, much less the totality of books, or to organize easily everything one has read, learning from books places a premium on conceptual thinking - the ability to recognize comparable data and events and project patterns into the future. And style propels the reader into a relationship with the author, or with the subject matter, by fusing substance and aesthetics.

Americans have a tendency to believe that when there's a problem there must be a solution.

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when you bore people they think it's their fault.

Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There is too much fraternizing with the enemy.

And history teaches this iron law of revolutions: the more extensive the eradication of existing authority, the more its successors must rely on naked power to establish themselves. For,in the end,legitimacy involves an acceptance of authority without compulsion; its absence turns every contest into a test of strength.

90% of the politicians give the other 10% a bad reputation.

The illegal we do immediately the unconstitutional takes a little longer.

In every era, humanity produces demonic individuals and seductive ideas of repression. The task of statesmanship is to prevent their rise to power and sustain an international order capable of deterring them if they do achieve it.

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room each believing himself in mortal peril from the other who he assumes to have perfect vision.

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God

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

The history of things that didn't happen has never been written.

The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Politicians are like dogs... Their life expectancy is too short for a commitment to be bearable

Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.