Statecraft Quotes

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

A state worthy of the name has no friends—only interests. [This is a generalized expression of British Prime Minister John Henry Temple's statement a century earlier.

War is merely a continuation of politics.

Study history. Study history. In history lie all the secrets of statecraft.

Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.

When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

Nations are born in the hearts of poets, they prosper and die in the hands of politicians.

… realpolitik

The most perilous moment for a bad government is when it seeks to mend its ways. Only consummate statecraft can enable a king to save his throne when, after a long spell of oppression, he sets out to improve the lot of his subjects.

Diplomacy [is] ... the art of restraining power.

Politics has been called the “art of the possible,” and it actually is a realm akin to art insofar as, like art, it occupies a creatively mediating position between spirit and life, the idea and reality.

Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

When the ambassadors of other foreign countries come to Japan to make treaties, they can be told that such and such a treaty has been made with the ambassador of the United States, and they will rest satisfied with this.

We had to avoid wounding Austria too severely; we had to avoid leaving behind in her any unnecessary bitterness of feeling or desire for revenge; we ought rather to reserve the possibility of becoming friends again with our adversary of the moment, and in any case to regard the Austrian state as a piece on the European chessboard and the renewal of friendly relations as a move open to us. If Austria were severely injured, she would become the ally of France and of every other opponent of ours; she would even sacrifice her anti-Russian interests for the sake of revenge on Prussia.

The same things are best both for individuals and for states, and these are the things which the legislator ought to implant in the minds of his citizens.

We are coming to realise that foreign operations in today's world call for a total diplomacy ... Ambassadors can no longer be content with wining and dining, reporting, analysing and cautiously predicting.

As president, I'm not supposed to play games or show my hand, because there's a lot going on behind the scenes that you don't see or hear and don't need to know.

May this civic and social landmark ... be a constant reminder of the inspiring service that has been rendered to civilization by men and women of the Jewish faith. May we recall the long array of those who have been eminent in statecraft, in science, in literature, in art, in the professions, in business, in finance, in philanthropy and in the spiritual life of the world.

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.

War is the ultimate tool of politics.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

Diplomacy can and will matter; little is inevitable in international relations.

I did not love politics. As a matter of fact, I hated politics. I loved governing which is … a different thing.

The art of governing is a great metier, requiring the whole man, and it is therefore not well for a ruler to have too strong tendencies for other affairs.