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A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security

Henry Kissinger

In short, the end justifies the means.
HENRY KISSINGER

End Justice
Since Peter the Great, Russia had been expanding at the rate of one Belgium per year.
HENRY KISSINGER

Greatness Growth War
The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
HENRY KISSINGER

Absence Mindset
Later I learned to improve my forecasting—if necessary by asking the visitor in advance what subjects he intended to raise with Nixon.
HENRY KISSINGER

Learning Myself Necessary
It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true.
HENRY KISSINGER

Deep Philosophy True
The goal of the tribute system was to foster deference, not to extract economic benefit or to dominate foreign societies militarily.
HENRY KISSINGER

Goal Oppression
When statesmen want to gain time, they offer to talk.
HENRY KISSINGER

Man Talk Time
Poor old Germany. Too big for Europe, too small for the world
HENRY KISSINGER

Big World
For nations, history plays the role that character confers on human beings.
HENRY KISSINGER

Character History Human Nation Play
The Soviet Union would never be bound by agreements, Deng warned; it understood only the language of countervailing force.
HENRY KISSINGER

Force Language Understand
Policy is the art of the possible, the science of the relative.
HENRY KISSINGER

Art Policy Possible Science
Order always requires a subtle balance of restraint, force, and legitimacy.
HENRY KISSINGER

Force Rule
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.
HENRY KISSINGER

Growth Issue Live Strong Time Weakness Wonderful
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
HENRY KISSINGER

Guilty Himself Kill Principle War Willing
I want to thank you for stopping the applause. It is impossible for me to look humble for any period of time.
HENRY KISSINGER

Humble Impossible Myself Praise Stop Thankful Time
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.
HENRY KISSINGER

Greatness History Leadership Peace Problem

A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security

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A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security

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