Ambrose Bierce Quotes

It is an ambassador's duty to stand up for his nation's foreign policy in any era and under any government whatsoever. Ambassadors are, in the full meaning of the term, titled spies.

Throughout history, ambassadors have always been symbolic incarnations of the sovereignty of their nations and the dignity of their leaders.

Ambassador: In diplomacy, an officer sent into a foreign country as the visible embodiment of his sovereign's hostility.

When the President picks up the phone and calls the Prime Minister, what does it mean to be an ambassador?

An ambassador from America! Good heavens what a sound!

He who plays advisor is no longer ambassador.

An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.

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

The mandate you go with is intimidating and also is a source of respect that you gain, because you have come with this mandate from the United Nations.

I was initially assigned to the American Consulate in Aden, not as Principal Officer but as a supernumerary officer to handle Yemen affairs. We had no resident diplomatic mission in Yemen at the time. People from Aden went up to Yemen regularly.

The function of a briefing paper is to prevent the ambassador from saying something dreadfully indiscreet. I sometimes think its true object is to prevent the ambassador from saying anything at all.

I must say I hate our diplomats. I think with few exceptions they are arrogant humbugs and I expect they know it.

Tell the Arch-Duchess that she may boss her own immigrants, but she can't boss the American consul.

I can therefore say, as a Spartan Ambassador to the King of Persia’s Lieutenant, when asked whether he came with a public commission or on his own account: “If successful, for the public; if unsuccessful, for myself.”

If we start seeing one ambassador I don’t know how we’re going to avoid seeing the other 113 …. I don’t see what mileage we get in seeing 80 African ambassadors.

An ambassador also serves as an emblem of the country that appoints him.

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

Ambassadors are the eyes and ears of states.

A diplomat these days is nothing but a head-waiter who's allowed to sit down occasionally.

Every other agency involved in foreign affairs jealously guards its prerogatives whenever State makes the slightest movement to broaden its role.

I am an undiplomatic diplomat.

I think the job of the first single is kind of like being a diplomat for a country.

Diplomacy is the police in grand costume.

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

I was going to study at the Sorbonne and become a diplomat. Being a diplomat comes in handy when you are dealing with record companies.