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The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small

Henry Kissinger

Politicians are like dogs, Their life expectancy is too short for a commitment to be bearable
HENRY KISSINGER

Commitment Dog Expectation Growth Life Politics
It’s a pity both sides can’t lose (commenting on Iran-Iraq war, 1980 – 1988)
HENRY KISSINGER

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

Absence Mindset
Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies.
HENRY KISSINGER

Nation Rule Trust
Americans hold that every problem has a solution; Chinese think that each solution is an admission ticket to a new set of problems.
HENRY KISSINGER

Perspective Problem Thinking
When statesmen want to gain time, they offer to talk.
HENRY KISSINGER

Man Talk Time
Power without legitimacy tempts tests of strength; legitimacy without power tempts empty posturing.
HENRY KISSINGER

Empty Power Strength
in international affairs a reputation for reliability is a more important asset than demonstrations of tactical cleverness.
HENRY KISSINGER

Choice Important Reputation Worth
A Harvard study has shown that in fifteen cases in history where a rising and an established power interacted, ten ended in war.
HENRY KISSINGER

End Establishment History Power Rise War
If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.
HENRY KISSINGER

Path Road Success Yourself
It is not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.
HENRY KISSINGER

Learning Nation Past
History knows no resting places and no plateaus
HENRY KISSINGER

History Nature Place
I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.
HENRY KISSINGER

Book Mistake Myself
Policy is the art of the possible, the science of the relative.
HENRY KISSINGER

Art Policy Possible Science
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

The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small

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The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small

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