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.
HENRY KISSINGERThe goal of the tribute system was to foster deference, not to extract economic benefit or to dominate foreign societies militarily.
More Henry Kissinger Quotes
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The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
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A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.
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A Harvard study has shown that in fifteen cases in history where a rising and an established power interacted, ten ended in war.
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Postcolonial countries. All have sought to overcome the legacy of colonial.
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When statesmen want to gain time, they offer to talk.
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Order always requires a subtle balance of restraint, force, and legitimacy.
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In the end, peace can be achieved only by hegemony or by balance of power.
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America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests
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Woe to the statesman whose arguments for entering a war are not as convincing at its end as they were at the beginning, Bismarck had cautioned.
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There can’t be a crisis next week, my schedule is already full.
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If chess is about the decisive battle, wei qi is about the protracted campaign. The chess player aims for total victory. The wei qi player seeks relative advantage.
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For the balance of power is never static; its components are in constant flux.
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Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.
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We live in a wondrous time, in which the strong is weak because of his scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.
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The nice thing about being a celebrity is that if you bore people they think it’s their fault.
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Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
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A more immediate issue concerns North Korea, to which Bismarck’s nineteenth-century aphorism surely applies: We live in a wondrous time, in which the strong is weak because of his scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.
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Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
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Empires have no interest in operating within an international system; they aspire to be the international system.
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Chinese thinkers developed strategic thought that placed a premium on victory through psychological advantage and preached the avoidance of direct conflict.
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Later I learned to improve my forecasting—if necessary by asking the visitor in advance what subjects he intended to raise with Nixon.
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Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
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George Bernard Shaw: There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.
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If history teaches anything it is that there can be no peace without equilibrium and no justice without restraint.
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It’s a pity both sides can’t lose (commenting on Iran-Iraq war, 1980 – 1988)
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in international affairs a reputation for reliability is a more important asset than demonstrations of tactical cleverness.
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