Power without legitimacy tempts tests of strength; legitimacy without power tempts empty posturing.
HENRY KISSINGERWhen statesmen want to gain time, they offer to talk.
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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Intellectuals analyze the operations of international systems; statesmen build them.
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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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It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true.
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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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The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small
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If Chinese exceptionalism represented the claims of a universal empire, Japanese exceptionalism sprang from the insecurities of an island nation borrowing heavily from its neighbor, but fearful of being dominated by it.
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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.
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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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For Roosevelt, if a nation was unable or unwilling to act to defend its own interests, it could not expect others to respect them. Inevitably,
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It has the added advantage of being true.
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Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.
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What distinguishes Sun Tzu from Western writers on strategy is the emphasis on the psychological and political elements over the purely military.
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Covert action should not be confused with missionary work.
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A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.
HENRY KISSINGER