Diplomatic Negotiation Quotes

In any area of the U.N. we... have to agree on certain language that can represent the same spirit, but that can be accepted by everyone.

World War I was not inevitable, as many historians say. It could have been avoided, and it was a diplomatically botched negotiation.

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

... assertive multilateralism.

You cannot have a diplomatic offensive without talking.

Russia will occupy most of the good food lands of central Europe while we have the industrial portions. We must find some way of persuading Russia to play ball.

Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence.

The ministers and the Jacobins are making the king declare war tomorrow on Austria. The ministers are hoping that this move will frighten the Austrians and that within three weeks we will be negotiating (God forbid that this should happen). May we at last be avenged for all the outrages we have suffered from this country!

Probably no more extraordinary proposition ever was made by a President to the American people than that our Government should agree to submit questions of difference with other nations to a self-perpetuating judicial tribunal, and one in the selection of whose judges we had no voice.

You aren't going to be successful as a diplomat if you don't understand the strategic context in which you are actually negotiating. It is not deal making. It's not.

Can any of us even imagine, after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt suggesting we negotiate a resolution or that we could simply prosecute those involved? Of course it is unimaginable. We are right to be in the Middle East, and we are right to treat this as the war it is.

Quiet diplomacy is far more effective than public posturing.

The skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting.

… in politics, just as anywhere else in life, it is impossible and it would not be sensible always to say everything bluntly. Yet that does not mean one has to lie. What is needed here are tact, instinct and good taste.

Some believe that the only way to remove the authoritarian regime and replace it with a democratic one is through violent means. I would like to set the precedent of political change through political settlement, not through violence.

“Secretary of State Clinton dared Iran on Monday to let her hold a town-hall meeting in Tehran.” That’s telling ’em. If the ayatollahs had a sense of humor, they’d call her bluff.

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.

I don't favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I'm also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people.

Three qualities of greatness stood out in Woodrow Wilson. He was a man of staunch morals. He was more than just an idealist; he was the personification of the heritage of idealism of the American people. He brought spiritual concepts to the peace table. He was a born crusader.

Give us what belongs to us in peace, and if you don't give it to us in peace, we will take it by force.

And also, we are providing, you know, a nuclear power plant in the north, two light water systems, so some 4 or 5 billion dollars we are providing to meet with North Korean requests on the condition North Korea will not produce a nuclear weapon.

If anything good is going to emerge out of this, it's going to be the result of an acceptable modus vivendi between Ukraine and Russia. The two of them will have to get together at some point. It is going to be a result that many people in the West will not like, because Russia, as the bigger power, is going to get the better of the deal. So, a lot of people will say, that's appeasement. That's this - that - it's reality.

Don't raise your voice, improve your argument.

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.”

PLENIPOTENTIARY, adj. Having full power. A Minister Plenipotentiary is a diplomatist possessing absolute authority on condition that he never exert it.