For nations, history plays the role that character confers on human beings.
HENRY KISSINGEREmpires have no interest in operating within an international system; they aspire to be the international system.
More Henry Kissinger Quotes
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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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It is not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.
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The goal of the tribute system was to foster deference, not to extract economic benefit or to dominate foreign societies militarily.
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Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies.
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Americans have a tendency to believe that when there’s a problem there must be a solution.
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A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.
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It’s a pity both sides can’t lose (commenting on Iran-Iraq war, 1980 – 1988)
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The war is just when the intention that causes it to be undertaken is just. The will is therefore the principle element that must be considered, not the means, He who intends to kill the guilty sometimes faultlessly shed the blood of the innocents
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The issues are too important to be left for the voters.
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The state is a fragile organization, and the statesman does not have the moral right to risk its survival on ethical restraint.
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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.
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Americans hold that every problem has a solution; Chinese think that each solution is an admission ticket to a new set of problems.
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The art of crisis management is to raise the stakes to where the adversary will not follow, but in a manner that avoids a tit for tat.
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A country whose security depends on producing a genius in each generation sets itself a task no society has ever met.
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Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.
HENRY KISSINGER