Michael Lewis Quotes

Undue enmity with enemies does not serve the interests of the system. Enemies must be dealt with wisely and prudently.

Number one, that it is smart to communicate and negotiate with your enemy instead of just waging war with bombs and weapons of mass destruction.

Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

The art of diplomacy is to take your humiliations in private.

Diplomacy matters. Burden-sharing matters. Follow-through matters. And yes, sustaining the peace is harder, more complex and often costlier than winning the war itself. No matter the surge of momentary machismo -- as gratifying as it may be for some -- it's short-sighted and wrong to simply go it alone.

A general must be shot or befriended - but never hurt.

It is much safer to reconcile an enemy than to conquer him; victory may deprive him of his poison, but reconciliation of his will.

I'm not making an enemy; I'm keepin' one.

The most critical thing in a negotiation is to get inside your opponent's head and figure out what he really wants.

Oh, diplomacy ... it mops up war's spillages; legitimizes its outcomes; gives the strong state the means to impose its will on a weaker one, while saving its fleets and battalions for weightier opponents.

Without agreement you just have people arguing.

Im my profession you have to mystify the enemy.

When the final result is expected to be a compromise, it is often prudent to start from an extreme position.

If you've had a bad experience with an agent, you have to move past it. You are bound to want a player at some stage who is represented by this guy and you will have to try to work around the personality of the agent. You tend to work out what makes them tick, what they respond to. You have to have tactical plans to get a deal over the line.

Those that fight don't listen, those that listen don't fight.

I want war. To me all means will be right. My motto is not "Don't, whatever you do, annoy the enemy." My motto is "Destroy him by all and any means." I am the one who will wage the war!

How does it make sense to remove an option, to tell your enemy before you go into a conflict, that you will not exercise whatever options are necessary in order to achieve victory?

If you wish, I shall go personally to your City and knock together the heads of Perlith and Galooney.

It's such a contentious thing to get people in a room and just say, "go!"

General, unless he offers us honorable terms, come back and let us fight it out!

A bag of dragons buys a man's silence for a while, but a well-placed quarrel buys it forever.

Diplomacy is much more than just talking to your friends... You've got to talk to people who aren't our friends, and even people you dislike.

In diplomacy, clear-cut wins and losses are rare.

During negotiations nothing is gained by attacking people's comfort zones.

I like what Abba Eban once said during the 1967 war. He said, "When all else fails, men turn to reason."