Robert MacNeil Quotes

I know the pros and cons of not being diplomatic.

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.

Diplomacy is more than saying or doing the right things at the right time, it is avoiding saying or doing the wrong things at any time.

In the world of diplomacy, some things are better left unsaid.

Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice Doggie!” till you can find a rock.

I'm not some ditzy moron who has no idea how to deal with a diplomat as if they're some exotic animal.

Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths without giving offense.

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.

When we put our trust in diplomacy, it is not because it is an inspiring or uplifting discourse or because it helps us see the common humanity in others. The stylized circumlocutions of diplomats can make them seem ridiculous or irrelevant: they never seem to be talking about what is really going on.

It is tact that is golden, not silence.

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

Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.

You have to speak diplomatically. I don't.

When diplomats meet, they are, of necessity, ambiguous, in order to get an agreement.

Difficulties melt away under tact.

All of you, leave," Vlad responded curtly. "That's not nice," I mumbled. "You should talk to them before you bite them, too. Common curtesy.

Manners are a way of getting what you want without appearing to be an absolute swine.

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

I learned how to deal with people with elegance from Patrick Swayze.

It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.

But I think that sensitivity is also a good counsellor when it comes to enforcing one's interests.

Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth.

Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.