Nothing he [a Foreign Secretary] can say can do very much good, and almost anything he may say may do a great deal of harm. Anything he says that is not obvious is dangerous; whatever is not trite is risky. He is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.
Earl of Stockton
(A Foreign Secretary) is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.
You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.
Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him.
A diplomat is one that says something that is equally misunderstood by both sides, and never clear to either.
My style in diplomacy is my style as a human being - I'm very direct and very honest.
Silence and tact may or may not be the same thing.
The Politician uses the language of diplomacy of which he is a master, and it consists in telling some of the truth without necessarily exhausting it.
I am an undiplomatic diplomat.
