Diplomatic Strategies Quotes

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

Their [the North Koreans] idea of a concession was not a quid pro quo, like in Western countries. Their idea of a concession was that they're not going to budge, but what they will budge on is they will give you enough time to come to their conclusion, eventually. Time for them is not of the essence.

If the United States is accommodating, the North Koreans become accommodating. If the United States is hostile, they become hostile.

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

Only professional diplomats, inveterate idiots and women view diplomacy as a long-term substitute for war.

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.

American diplomacy is easy on the brain but hard on the feet.

There was no authority with which diplomacy could deal.

Players have a great deal of flexibility when conducting diplomatic relations with their allies.

It was the same in World War I, when Woodrow Wilson, also a tool of the Jews, maneuvered it into the war.

American secretaries of state have typically been more buttoned up than bon vivant, but John Quincy Adams's diplomatic successes - bigger than anything presidential or legislative that he achieved - still surprise a student of his personality.

Globalization, far from putting an end to power diplomacy between States, has, on the contrary, intensified it.

Quite obviously power will continue to play a central role in global politics as it always does. But usually there is something else.

Force is not inevitable. Diplomacy is still the desired means. Pressure is an element of the means.

Personal pique is not a foreign policy.

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

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.

While the game of deadlocks and bottle-necks goes on, another more serious game is also being played. It is governed by two axioms. One is that there can be no peace without a general surrender of sovereignty: the other is that no country capable of defending its sovereignty ever surrenders it. If one keeps these axioms in mind one can generally see the relevant facts in international affairs through the smoke-screen with which the newspapers surround them.

In diplomacy, clear-cut wins and losses are rare.

I like what Abba Eban once said during the 1967 war. He said, "When all else fails, men turn to reason."

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.

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

I would say of all the things that have happened during the course of my presidency the knowledge that you have hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed, millions who have been displaced, [makes me] ask myself what might I have done differently along the course of the last five, six years.

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

Everybody's still talking about diplomacy and I'm very hopeful that as long as we talk about diplomacy, as long as we're not talking about enforcement measures, sanctions, et cetera, we are on the right track. But we need to accelerate the process.