Bob Beckel Quotes

Not everyone has the survival skills of William Jefferson Clinton.

The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall, your elbows high, and a smile on your face.

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

Diplomacy: The patriotic art of lying for one's country.

Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice Doggie!” till you can find a rock.

Creative betrayal is the essence of successful statesmanship.

The king is so subtle with his words that he would confound the apostolic religion itself. He will find the weak points of the pope's character and will trip him up to his destruction.

Dealing with a government with whom mendacity is a science is an extremely difficult and delicate matter.

Diplomacy: lying in state.

It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly.

And a diplomatist is one who lets the other fellow think he's getting his way, while all the time he's having his own. It never does any special harm to let people have their way with their mouths.

Cicero most reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both men knew how to keep the show on the road.

Most governments lie to each other. That's the way business gets done.

The simplest of women are wonderful liars who can extricate themselves from the most difficult dilemmas with a skill bordering on genius.

I was too busy looking into Yeltsin's eyes to notice what was under the table.

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.

A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.

For me, the facts in anything are always secondary. You don't lie convincingly with the truth. You lie convincingly with being a good liar.

What is negotiation but the accumulation of small lies leading to advantage?

I've been dealing with politicians all my life. All my life. And I've always gotten them to do what I need them to do.

Method is more important than strength, when you wish to control your enemies. By dropping golden beads near a snake, a crow once managed To have a passer-by kill the snake for the beads.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

There are no friends at cards or world politics.

I've always been very good at convincing people. For instance, if I arrive in an airport and I'm in economy, I can always convince the guy to put me in first class.

Improvising political dialogue is not easy.