Henry A. Kissinger Quotes

Let us not be deceived we are today in the midst of a cold war.

This is an era of violent peace.

The Cold War was like two heavily armed men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision. Each tends to ascribe to the other a consistency, foresight, and coherence that his own experience belies.

I must confess to the most profound distrust of Russia. I have no belief whatever in her ability to maintain an effective offensive, even if she wanted to.

The United States and Russia probably do not have common aims and dreams, but they have common worries: Both Washington and Moscow are concerned about the rise of China and are threatened by the rise of radical Islam.

I give you my word that there will be no great armaments

Every nation will continue to arm for war until a day comes at which one or the other says, “Better a terrible end, than a terror without end” or “If we delay any longer, we shall be the weaker instead of the stronger”. Then the catastrophe will happen.

I thought that in general we in the United States were too optimistic in believing that the Soviets might alter what had been for a long time, as a matter of fact for centuries, fundamental Russian policies in respect to the rest of the world.

The Cold War was a boring thing. Nobody gets better for it. Tremendous money is wasted. Our lives get more difficult. We look at each other as enemies. What's good in that? In any case, I will do anything in my power in order to stop another Cold War, with the U.S. or any other country in the world.

I visited the Chinese side last year. The Chinese are in a constant state of military readiness. They have all their nuclear weapons in the area, presumably trained on targets across the border.

During the Cold War, we were interested because we were scared that Russia and the United States were going to go to war. We were scared that Russia was going to take over the world. Every country became a battleground.

The unthinkable occurred: two communist countries went to war with each other.

I remember fear and I remember the potential of nuclear war.

I'm still bothered by the threat of nuclear war.

I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest.

That was the era when we might have destroyed Russia completely and not even skinned our elbows doing it.

A dark and terrible side of this sense of community of interests is the fear of a horrible common destiny which in these days of atomic weapons darkens men's minds all around the globe.

Other than being crazy enough to press a button, there is nothing that Putin can do militarily to fundamentally alter American interests.

This radical transformation of world power relationships reflects primarily in the case of both the USA and the USSR the growth of the productive forces.

The Russians feared Ike. They didn't fear me.

Many in China find it perplexing that the U.S. and Russian perceptions are still so heavily influenced by the Cold War.

When two giants meet with each other, when there is too little room for them on the world's surface, they try to measure their strength in order to decide by war the debatable question of hegemony.

Although the war is over, we are in the midst of a cold war which is getting warmer.

We have never practiced the policy of competitive armaments.

We should get back to the ... doctrine of brinkmanship, where everybody knows we have the power and will use it.