Henry A. Kissinger Quotes - Page 2

It is one of history's ironies that Communism, advertised as a classless society, tended to breed a privileged class of feudal proportions.

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

Oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the Arabs.

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

China is a country with a record of continuous self-government going back 4,000 years, the only society that has achieved this. One must start with the assumption that they must have learnt something about the requirements for survival, and it is not always to be assumed that we know it better than they do.

In his essay, ‘Perpetual Peace,’ the philosopher, Immanuel Kant, argued that perpetual peace would eventually come to the world in one of two ways, by human insight or by conflicts and catastrophes of a magnitude that left humanity no other choice. We are at such a juncture.

In the end, peace can be achieved only by hegemony or by balance of power.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

With proper tactics, nuclear war need not be as destructive as it appears.

The enemies you make by taking a decided stand generally have more respect for you than the friends you make by being on the fence

For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one. Putin is a serious strategist – on the premises of Russian history. Understanding US values and psychology are not his strong suits. Nor has understanding Russian history and psychology been a strong point among US policymakers.’

Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." [...] But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.

If you control the food, you control a nation. If you control the energy, you control a region. If you control the money, you control the world.

No one will ever win the battle of the sexes; there's too much fraternizing with the enemy.

Let us fashion together a new world order.

A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.

Donald Rumsfeld is the most ruthless man I have ever met? and I mean that as a compliment.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

In crises the most daring course is often safest.

NAFTA represents the single most creative step towards a New World Order.

For any student of history, change is the law of life. Any attempt to contain it guarantees an explosion down the road; the more rigid the adherence to the status quo, the more violent the ultimate outcome will be.

Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.

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