diplomacy quotes

The U.S. – the idea that the U.S. has introduced and imposed principles of international law, that’s hardly even a joke. The United States has even gone so far as to veto Security Council resolutions calling on all states to observe international law. That was in the 1980s under Reagan.

The United States supports a strong, united Ukraine with productive and peaceful relationships with both the East and the West, with both Russia and Europe.

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments‘ plans.

Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.

Iran has little capacity to deploy force. Its strategic doctrines are defensive, designed to deter invasion long enough for diplomacy to set it.

It’s a near miracle that nuclear war has so far been avoided.

Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they’d both unite against an invasion from Mars.

The United States prefers that Iraq meet its obligations voluntarily, yet we are prepared for the alternative.

It is my view that we cannot conduct foreign policy at the extremes.

The U.N. charter bars the threat of force.

Nowhere is it written that there must be conflict between the United States and China.

I have spoken to Chinese leaders occasionally on human rights, but I’ve always done it in private.

I believe mutual respect for one another and cooperation should be the basis for relationships with foreign nations.

Russia isn’t going to start a war. They can’t afford it. I think Mr. Putin can be dealt with if we stop screaming at him. You can work with the guy. You just have to know who he is.

I’ve known and continue to know every one of these major world leaders by their first names, and I have access to them.

To say that the United States has pursued diplomacy with North Korea is a little bit misleading. It did under the Clinton administration, though neither side completely lived up to their obligations. Clinton didn’t do what was promised, nor did North Korea, but they were making progress.

People are finding it harder and harder to relate to foreign policy.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

The Bush Administration’s failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world.

We have practiced diplomacy since the very beginning of the nation. Sometimes it has not worked, and we’ve had to go to war. I always believe you should try to find peace and reconciliation before conflict. That has been the approach I’ve taken.

Unlike Europe, China can’t be intimidated. Europe backs down if the United States looks at it the wrong way. But China, they’ve been there for 3,000 years and are paying no attention to the barbarians and don’t see any need to.

Our diplomacy and development budget is not just about reducing spending and finding efficiencies. We need a frank conversation about what we stand for as that ‚shining city on a hill.‘ And that conversation begins by acknowledging that we can’t do it on the cheap.

Diplomacy is listening to what the other guy needs. Preserving your own position, but listening to the other guy. You have to develop relationships with other people so when the tough times come, you can work together.

No nation should threaten its neighbors by massing troops along the border.

I have always seen the United States as a force of good. And I have learned that there is the idealistic part about what we can do at the U.N. and there is a doable part. And I have learned what is more doable.

No nation should stoke instability in its neighbor’s country.

We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

In 1962, war was avoided by Khrushchev’s willingness to accept Kennedy’s hegemonic demands.

You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, ‚I really like your tie.‘

Well, the thing that I learned as a diplomat is that human relations ultimately make a huge difference.

The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.

China and the U.S. need each other very badly. Yes, we should argue about some things, but it’s not an ‚us versus them,‘ it’s an ‚us and them‘ type scenario.

A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it’s not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It’s more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together.

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person’s shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.

Nobody’s ever said that pins are a tool of diplomacy.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible – and no one can now doubt the word of America.

I don’t think it is so difficult to solve the problems between Cuba and the United States; it all depends on whether there is a dialogue, a discussion, or if the prejudices and hatred of people like the extremists and terrorists from the Cuban community, who try to impose their policies, prevail.

War settles nothing.

Now if there is one thing that we do worse than any other nation, it is try and manage somebody else’s affairs.

Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.

I have a scheme for stopping war. It’s this – no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one.

No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.

Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week.

The people of the world genuinely want peace. Some day the leaders of the world are going to have to give in and give it to them.

War is what happens when language fails.

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

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it… You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.

I am confident my Hindutva face will be an asset when dealing with foreign affairs with other nations.

Diplomacy is the art of saying ‚Nice doggie‘ until you can find a rock.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy.

The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam.

War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.

Saddam’s goal is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed.

No matter how hard we might wish, we will not be able to transform China’s behavior overnight.

Throughout my career, I learned plenty about war on the battlefield, but I learned even more about the importance of finding peace. And that is what the State Department and U.S.A.I.D. do: prevent the wars that we can avoid so that we fight only the ones we must.

We can best help you to prevent war not by repeating your words and following your methods but by finding new words and creating new methods.

Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.