Michael Soussan Quotes

Politics—where they pat you on the back so they'll know where to stick the knife.

Obviously, 'Homeland' is not just a spy thriller. It's more than that, but 'Tyrant' will be a bit more of a palace drama. It'll be about the families, but there will be political intrigue as well.

Diplomacy: lying in state.

If you start studying history closer, you'll find that most all wars are based on false flag operations to get people - to convince the people that they're under attack in some way so that they will support the wars.

I'm not consumed with political machinations.

Senator Kerry was fooled by Bashar al-Assad.

There are no true friends in politics. We are all sharks circling, and waiting, for traces of blood to appear in the water.

'The Ides of March' was a fairly cynical film.

The U.N. can be very frustrating and at times impotent, but it can also be a valuable forum for discussion and resolution of world problems. We should not walk away from it just because it's failed to live up to its promise.

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

If you ignore the murdering and the conniving, Francis Underwood is an effective politician.

The economic and political roots of the conflicts are too strong for us to pretend to create a lasting state of harmonious understanding between men.

I hate politics, hate deals, and deal-making, hate meeting with attorneys and agents.

I never fully understand all the drama and machinations within the Eagles.

Of course what is talked about in the U.N. General Assembly is very important. Officials, the leaders of nations, appear there to speak of the most important topics - what they perceive to be the most important topics.

Diplomats make it their business to conceal the facts, and politicians violently denounce the politicians of other countries.

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

If the U.N. didn't exist, we'd be inventing it right now.

The Washington leadership has put aside non-proliferation programmes and devoted its energies and resources to driving the country to war by extraordinary deceit, then trying to manage the catastrophe it created in Iraq.

Watching 'Scandal' is a fun and exciting guilty pleasure, which is how I imagine most real scandals start out.

The failure of the United Nations - My failure is maybe, in retrospective, that I was not enough aggressive with the members of the Security Council.

My diplomatic position will not consist of going and kneeling down in front of George Bush.

The U.N. might not be the most luxurious place to work, but it certainly is one of the most important places in the world.

You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done

I had to leave the Foreign Service to do the two things I joined it to do—negotiate, and make policy.