Aaron Allston Quotes

In most cases, cables are marked secret not because the U.S. requires it but because those speaking to us - the foreign leaders across the table - do. They are not keeping secrets from us, but from two other groups: their enemies and their subjects.

At home you always have to be a politician. When you're abroad you almost feel yourself a statesman.

War is always an option. Peace is not.

Diplomacy is the police in grand costume.

Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.

Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power.

He who plays advisor is no longer ambassador.

I'm simply saying that there are advantages in sending a skilled diplomat who can always say, 'I'll get back to you on that, Mr. Minister'.

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 would like to be the first ambassador to the United States from the United States.

Richard Holbrooke is known for many things, but I will remember him as an impressive, sometimes even intimidating diplomat who understood the value of culture in diplomacy.

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

War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of state policy with other means.

I might be an ambassador.

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

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

Unless you’re prepared to use force, it’s very difficult to deal with a person who understands only force.

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

Force should never be the first answer, but sometimes it is the only answer.

There’s no reason to respect anyone’s word in that part of the world. The only thing they respect is force and the threat of force.

I am too realistic to believe in pacifism. But, nevertheless, the use of force should always be the last resort.

Mr. Roosevelt. You perhaps believe that your intervention can be effective anywhere.

Repel force by force

The job of a diplomat is to be the eyes and the ears of the country he or she is representing.

Cool, realistic diplomats are prepared to try to negotiate with any type of regime whenever the national interest calls for it; the last thing that should ever be done to turn emotional or "demonize" another foreign leader no matter how nasty he may be.