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.
HENRY KISSINGERIt’s a pity both sides can’t lose (commenting on Iran-Iraq war, 1980 – 1988)
More Henry Kissinger Quotes
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Policy is the art of the possible, the science of the relative.
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It is one of history’s ironies that Communism, advertised as a classless society, tended to breed a privileged class of feudal proportions.
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A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.
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I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.
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Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
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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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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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Who controls the money controls the world.
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Can governmental orders be invented from scratch by intelligent thinkers, or is the range of choice limited by underlying organic and cultural realities (the Burkean view)?
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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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Americans have a tendency to believe that when there’s a problem there must be a solution.
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I want to thank you for stopping the applause. It is impossible for me to look humble for any period of time.
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Intellectuals analyze the operations of international systems; statesmen build them.
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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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The issues are too important to be left for the voters.
HENRY KISSINGER






