Diplomats Quotes

• A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.

  Robert Frost

  Funny, Happy Birthday, Growing Up

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• Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Peace, Fear

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person's shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.

  Madeleine Albright

  Believe, Successful, Order

  "Madeleine Albright: An Exclusive Interview". Interview with Marianne Schnall, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 15, 2010.

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• The real secret about diplomats is that we're trained to say something, when there is nothing to say, and to say nothing when there is something to say.

  Jon Huntsman, Jr.

  Real, Secret, Diplomacy

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• a diplomat ... is not worthy of the name unless he can say 'no' and make the other person like it - or at least not be offended by it.

  Margery Wilson

  Names, Worthy, Persons

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  A diplomat is a man who thinks twice before he says nothing.

  Edward Heath

  Workout, Men, Thinking

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• To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.

  Will Durant

  Art, Communication, Half

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1961). “The Story of Civilization: The Age of Reason begins, 1558-1648”

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• Diplomacy is to do and say, the nastiest thing in the nicest way.

  Isaac Goldberg

  Fear, Way, Diplomacy

  The Reflex, Oct. 1927

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• The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy - give one and take ten

  Mark Twain

  Funny, Humor, Giving

  Mark Twain (2014). “Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist”, p.19, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• If a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps. If he says perhaps he means no. And if he says no, he's the hell of a diplomat.

  Agnes Sligh Turnbull

  Mean, Hell, Tact

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• In archaeology you uncover the unknown. In diplomacy you cover the known.

  Thomas R. Pickering

  Favourite, Diplomacy, Archaeology

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• Well, the thing that I learned as a diplomat is that human relations ultimately make a huge difference.

  Madeleine Albright

  Differences, Relation, Wells

  "Madeleine Albright: An Exclusive Interview". Interview with Marianne Schnall, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 15, 2010.

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• The basic quality for the diplomat is not intelligence but loyalty.

  C. Northcote Parkinson

  Loyalty, Quality

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• Diplomats were invented simply to waste time.

  David Lloyd George

  Time, Political, Politics

  On preparation for the Paris Peace Conference, November 1918.

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• A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat without having his neighbor notice it.

  Trygve Lie

  Real, Cutting, Neighbor

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• Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

  Otto von Bismarck

  Military, War, Writing

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• All war represents a failure of diplomacy.

  Tony Benn

  War, Failure, Diplomacy

  Tony Benn's Speech in House of Commons, hansard.millbanksystems.com. February 28, 1991.

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• It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.

  John Keegan

  Quality, Compromise, Trouble

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• How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.

  Karl Kraus

  Funny, War, Lying

  Aphorism collected in Heinrich Fischer (ed) Beim Wort genommen (1955). Translated by Harry Zohn in Half-truths and one-and-a-half truths (1986).

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• I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I tell them the truth and they never believe me.

  Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour

  Sarcastic, Art, Truth

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• Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week.

  Will Rogers

  Peace, War, Fall

  Paula Love, Will Rogers (1972). “The Will Rogers book”, Texian Pr

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• A really good diplomat does not go in for victories, even when he wins them.

  Walter Lippmann

  Success, Winning, Victory

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• An ambassador has no need of spies; his character is always sacred.

  George Washington

  Character, Spy, Needs

  George Washington, Jared Sparks (1834). “The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts”, p.34

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• diplomacy, n.: The patriotic art of lying for one's country.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Sarcastic, Country, Art

  Ambrose Bierce (2016). “The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World”, p.47, 谷月社

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• All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means.

  Zhou Enlai

  War, Mean, Diplomacy

  Saturday Evening Post, March 27, 1954.

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