David P. Auerswald Quotes

Deterrence is a dynamic, interactive process between at least two entities. Deterrence policies are predicated on threatening an adversary with pain if that adversary changes its behavior in ways that you find detrimental to your interests.

The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is a necessary art …. If you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost.

Knowing what an opponent values is a necessary condition for deterrence success.

In international affairs, you never threaten things you're not prepared to do.

If you treat China like a foe, surely she will become one.

We have treated our most serious adversaries, such as Iran and North Korea, in the most juvenile manner - by giving them the silent treatment. In so doing, we have weakened, not strengthened, our bargaining position and our leadership.

I told him that my own opinion was that the time now and the method now to deal with Russia was to keep our mouths shut and let our actions speak for words.

Appeasement was never a very clever policy, and it should not be our option today.

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

There is no area where experience matters more than in war and diplomacy.

If you threaten force, you better be ready to use it.

What matters is not whether one talks to adversaries but what one says to them, which strategies of engagement are set in place, and how competently they are executed.

Diplomacy takes time.

Richard Nixon, famously, conducted his foreign policy according to the 'madman theory': he tried to convince enemy leaders that he was irrational and volatile in an attempt to intimidate them. But this was a potentially useful approach to foreign policy only because it was an act.

If you don't want war, then you had better be an advocate for diplomacy with muscle.

You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.

A lord must learn that sometimes words can accomplish what swords cannot.

Jane! will you hear reason?' (he stooped and approached his lips to my ear) 'because, if you won't, I'll try violence.

Quite often ... these little guys, who might be making atomic weapons or who might be guilty of some human rights violation ... are looking for someone to listen to their problems and help them communicate.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy.

Information is a negotiator's greatest weapon.

Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.

I think most Americans believe that although it's better not to use military force if you can avoid it, that the world simply doesn't provide us the luxury of giving away military force as an important tool of foreign policy.

The only thing you think of is that you are in the middle and that you've got to find a way to stop it.

We're all negotiators.