Henry A. Kissinger Quotes - Page 9

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• Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Funny, Witty, Humorous

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• We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not win. The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Military, War, Army

  "The Vietnam Negotiations". Foreign Affairs, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 214, January 1969.

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• History is the memory of States.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Memories, States

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• In the 1960s, I would have considered China with its CPC an ideologically more dynamic country than the Soviet Union. But the Soviet Union was strategically more threatening.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Country, Unions, Threatening

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Every time there has been an attempt to disturb it, it led to two things. It led to immediate intense conflict with China, and it led to a reaffirmation in the end, because nobody wanted a major confrontation with China to this principle of a "one China" policy within which Taiwan is finding a place now. Its own position has greatly improved since the Nixon policy. It is richer, it is stronger and it is participating in many international organizations.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Organization, Two, Stronger

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I have always expressed respect for those people who make public declarations.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  People, Declaration

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• China is a one party state. Sooner or later China will get to the point when the new social classes, which have emerged thanks to economic success, will have to be integrated into the political system. There is no guarantee that this process will run smoothly.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Running, Party, Guarantees That

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• I don't know what happens in the next years. But I cannot now design a policy in which we try to keep China from developing, because in some years, if they develop, they might be rich enough to challenge us, and adopt the principle that we will hold down any state that might in the future become strong. That would make us a world empire for which we wouldn't have the talents or the convictions.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Strong, Years, Design

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I also do not believe that the United States can let itself be driven into a political role by escalating terrorism, and therefore, the leaders of the Arab world and Arafat should do their utmost to put an end to this and then the United States should do its utmost to produce a political solution.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Believe, Leader, Political

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• In relations with many domestically weak countries, a radio transmitter can be a more effective form of pressure than a squadron B-52s.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Country, Radio, Pressure

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• It is not often that nations learn from the past,even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Past, Conclusion, Draws

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• The convictions that leaders have formed before reaching high office are the intellectual capital they will consume as long as they continue in office.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Office, Long, Leader

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• The attitude of the West and of Russia towards a crisis like Ukraine is diametrically different. The West is trying to establish the legality of any established border. For Russia, Ukraine is part of the Russian patrimony. A Russian state was created around Kiev about 1,200 years ago. Ukraine itself has been part of Russia for 500 years, and I would say most Russians consider it part of Russian patrimony. The ideal solution would be to have a Ukraine like Finland or Austria that can be a bridge between these two rather than an outpost.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Attitude, Trying, Different

  Source: www.wbur.org

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• When I became security advisor, I became familiar with the so-called SIOP war plans, I called in Secretary McNamara and asked him what they were hiding from me, because I couldn't believe that the National policy would foresee such a level of destructiveness.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  War, Believe, Levels

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• Baseball is the most intellectual game because most of the action goes on in your head.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Baseball, Games, Intellectual

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• The capacity to admire others is not my most fully developed trait.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Admiration, Capacity, Admire

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• We have three things in common: Irish wives, the ability to speak for 17 minutes without a verb, and the fact that we both speak with an accent.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Wife, Three, Verbs

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• Obama is like a chess player who is playing simultaneous chess and has opened his game with an unusual opening.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Player, Games, Chess

  "Obama Is Like a Chess Player". Interview with Jan Fleischhauer and Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. July 6, 2009.

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• Now we have a whole series of problems - energy, environment, proliferation - which go beyond the nation. And we also know that a conflict between major powers would be a catastrophe for which there is no compensation in anything you can gain.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Gains, Energy, Would Be

  Source: www.nytimes.com

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• I don't think that that's a desirable option for us. Besides, it wouldn't work, because there are too many other countries that are willing to work economically with China. But I don't think the basic relationship depends on economics. It depends on a political understanding of what is required for peace in Asia.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Country, Thinking, Political

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Of course, in principle, they're against it. We are the ones that keep asking them what they think about it. I think their basic concern is a land-based missile defense of Taiwan hooked into the American communications and other systems, which in effect would make Taiwan then an outpost of the United States. That is a concern they frequently express. A missile defense shield of the United States, while they may not like it, it is not a big obstacle to our relationship.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Communication, Thinking, Land

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I don't think we should pay people to fight terrorism. I would be amazed if they asked for anything in return.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Fighting, Thinking, People

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• People are now starting to explain the Cold War. Even in the crises at that time the survival of millions of people was at stake. And we (the USA) had to threaten the other super power with retaliation to prevent it from doing something to us. Today we live in a world in which a lot of things are in flux. That creates a lot of fear. But it is also a time of great opportunity. And I would call on today's statesmen to not allow their thinking to be directed by fear.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  War, Opportunity, Thinking

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The greatest need of the contemporary international system is an agreed concept of order.

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Order, Needs, Relation

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• Create the impression of endless willingness to compromise and you almost invite deadlines. That's the challenge we now have in North Korea and have had in North Korea for 10 years. In this sense, diplomacy and foreign policy and other elements of political activity have to be closely linked and have to be understood by the negotiators

  Henry A. Kissinger

  Business, Korea, Years

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