Atal Bihari Vajpayee Quotes

In an ideological age, diplomacy may seem weak and prosaic. But sometimes it is all we have.

Our adversaries must see diplomacy as their best option because war with the United States will force them to bear enormous costs.

Many hard comments have been made on my efforts in India from the side of the Congress party, yet I feel content in the deep conviction that the offer I traveled 22,000 miles to discuss with Indian leaders was a real contribution to a solution of our differences.

A constructive approach to diplomacy doesn't mean relinquishing one's rights. It means engaging with one's counterparts, on the basis of equal footing and mutual respect, to address shared concerns and achieve shared objectives.

Any confrontation, such as a verbal one with the United States, would be harmful for everybody.

We have generals working on worst-case scenarios; we need statesmen on best cases.

The history of diplomacy is the history of relations among rival powers which did not enjoy political intimacy and did not respond to appeals to common purposes. Nevertheless, ... to think that rival and unfriendly powers cannot be brought to a settlement is to forget what diplomacy is about.

I believe in diplomacy; I don't believe in talking to... that talking to Iran somehow constitutes a concession or a favour.

Diplomacy is essential if we are to find peaceful resolutions in times of tension.

That's where my job comes in. Getting the E.U. and U.S. to agree.

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.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

If I could cause world peace by taking someone out to lunch, I'd go, 'Well, war isn't that terrible.'

Nobody has trusted the Iranian government from day one, but the idea of just refusing to have any kind of talks is dangerous in the extreme. Every administration says at least that we're trying to have talks between Israel and Palestine and solve the Middle East peace problem.

I'm used to politics at an international level: people put together an argument and, even if you vehemently disagree with them, well, you can recognise it's an argument and respond.

It is the hope of the European Union that Ariel Sharon will keep the peace process alive and continue the dialogue according to the wishes of all the parties involved.

The United States is a strong and ardent ally of Israel. The fact of the matter is that friends can disagree. I think what's important is that world leaders are able to sit down with one another, have frank conversations and move forward.

You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies.

And we ought to work our diplomacy first and I think it's a reason it's going to respond increasingly to our diplomacy particularly with the president's direct involvement in the peace process, and I think that's extraordinarily important.

Surely, God on high has not refused to give us enough wisdom to find ways to bring us an improvement in relations between the two great nations on earth.

The most important thing that certainly the United States and other Asian and Pacific actors have done is to urge that whatever happens, however the dispute is resolved, that it be resolved peacefully.

The President so far has struck me as a man who is trying hard to keep his balance. He certainly has been very receptive to all my efforts in these directions.

Our public dealings with the Russians can hardly lead to any clear and satisfactory results unless they are preceded by preparatory discussions of the most secret and delicate nature.

Americans tend to go for it all. In international politics you can’t have it all. You have to compromise.

Diplomacy was the only protection we had against war; and its achievements were of the utmost importance and value to the human race.