Charles Stross Quotes

When the ambassadors of other foreign countries come to Japan to make treaties, they can be told that such and such a treaty has been made with the ambassador of the United States, and they will rest satisfied with this.

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

The limits of diplomacy must be acknowledged.

I know how to move between political camps. When everyone in the world hated (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi, I paid him an official visit. It caused an uproar - Lula's visiting the devil!

Diplomacy is the police in grand costume.

Lawyers-a profession it is to disguise matters.

I do respect Putin. I respect a lot of people. But that doesn't mean I'm going get along with him.

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.

Diplomats were invented simply to waste time.

The world of high-stakes international diplomacy can be rough and tumble, but it's more often than not a procession of suits and summits, protocol sessions and photo ops.

Nobody's ever said that pins are a tool of diplomacy.

Our allies and enemies, and Mr. Wilson himself, should all understand that Mr. Wilson has no authority to speak for the American people.

Diplomacy is a frequently neglected imperative.

In war ... diplomacy is the handmaiden of the necessities of the War Office.

The management of foreign relations appears to be the most susceptible of abuse of all the trusts committed to a Government.

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

When I was UN ambassador, the French were monitoring me.

There is an increasing demand that the president and Secretary Hull get rid of the unteachable group in the State Department of men who have not learned, after ten years of experience, that appeasement has never worked anywhere, at any time.

Back channels themselves are as old as American diplomacy. Thomas Jefferson was an early enthusiast - he often routed around his secretary of state, once sending a secret letter to the American envoy in France, Robert Livingston, that contained a coded message.

Diplomacy and coalition-building are hard work and not easy for any president.

I meet with ambassadors from all countries in my role as a member of Congress, and you always have better relationships with those you actually personally get along with. That matters. So if there is chemistry between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, maybe that can bode for something.

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

Lawyers earn their bread in the sweat of their browbeating.

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

Lawyers may reason powerfully, but power settles most issues.