Madeleine Albright Quotes

Negotiations are the most essential tool of statecraft.

Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way.

Diplomacy is the art of letting somebody else have your way.

No two men ever devised plans of action to accomplish a particular object without finding that there were differences in their plans. That is peculiarly the case in international affairs.

I believe in much more diplomacy, not less.

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

In the '80s, we at least had the idea of diplomacy.

A mercurial plan of action may have worked in the Trump Organization board room, but it's a disastrous tactic in foreign affairs.

We want to have diplomatic engagement with the North Koreans.

It would be a foolish high representative who worked that way.

During the past few years I have led a sometimes hard battle for German foreign policy.

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

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.

I can only say that I have good personal relations with all secretaries of state with whom I have a chance to work.

I don't think that anybody should be ruling in or ruling out anything while we are conducting diplomacy.

And so there has been a lot of diplomatic movement.

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.

The first thing a diplomat has to do is understand the domestic politics of foreign states.

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.

You don’t just go to a summit meeting and say, ‘What do we talk about?’ These things require much planning. Each one of these meeting has consequences and we have to make sure we have the right consequences.

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

I like Mr. Gorbachev; we can do business together.

Foreign policy is like plumbing. You never notice it till it breaks and then all hell breaks loose.

We will be no worse if we try diplomacy and fail.