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Diplomacy Quotes
"Our strategic dialogue with China can both protect American interests and uphold our principles, provided we are honest about our differences on human rights and other issues and provided we use a mix of targeted incentives and sanctions to narrow these differences."
40
"Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? Is it a legacy of our colonial years? We want foreign television sets. We want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported?"
39
"I was a member of the Politburo for seven years, a foreign minister."
34
"Prospects of normalizing our relations with Russia look good."
26
"The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out."
20
"Economic sanctions rarely achieve the desired results."
17
"I think my resignation was the only way to avoid bloodshed."
14
"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough."
13
"If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a "peace conference," you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes."
11
"The world will not accept dictatorship or domination."
10
"Let us move from the era of confrontation to the era of negotiation."
10
"I don't think that anybody should be ruling in or ruling out anything while we are conducting diplomacy."
9
"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy."
9
"Romania and Bulgaria were particularly irresponsible. If they wanted to diminish their chances of joining Europe they could not have found a better way."
8
"A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron."
7
"When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home."
7
"Having viewed Europe as an extension and projection of itself, France now finds Europe developing a mind and identity of its own which embraces France but is not controlled by France."
7
"In terms of weapons, the best disarmament tool so far is nuclear energy. We have been taking down the Russian warheads, turning it into electricity. 10 percent of American electricity comes from decommissioned warheads."
7
"Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne."
6
"I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders."
6
"This is the devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim."
6
"Players have a great deal of flexibility when conducting diplomatic relations with their allies."
6
"Modern diplomats approach every problem with an open mouth."
6
"If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers."
6
"But the United States did not keep its word. Is an American's word reliable these days?"
6
"He is forever poised between a cliche and an indiscretion."
6
"Tact is the discrimination of differences. It consists in conscious deviations."
6
"The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it."
5
"Once the Xerox copier was invented, diplomacy died."
5
"You learn, just as you learn good manners, how to approach things with a certain amount of diplomacy."
5
"Widowhood had done nothing to curb my smart mouth. So much for diplomacy."
5
"Voices were heard from the United States of America which made it clear that America wanted a peaceful and united Europe as a basis for mutual cooperation."
4
"A peace talk is always difficult, always complicated."
4
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