Benjamin Disraeli Quotes
Difficulties melt away under tact.
Disraeli, Benjamin. Endymion. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1880.
When there are disputes between nations, sometimes one or both of the countries take the position that the other is so wrong and immoral that to negotiate with them per se gives them a credibility which they do not deserve. So at times one or both of the opponents places preconditions on discussions. Some politicians and governments have had a belief that negotiating with and enemy is a sign of weakness, and the reality is that often the other side characterizes attempts at negotiations as an indicator that they are faring well under the theory that the other side would not negotiate if they didn’t have to. Those governments which have a policy of talking to everyone under any conditions, avoid this dilemma as talks are not a sign of anything but their normal foreign policy.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, MP, FRS, was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, serving in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880. He was a member of the British Conservative Party and played a central role in the creation of the modern Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish birth. He was also a novelist, publishing works of fiction even as prime minister.
