 Diplomacy: the art of restraining power. |
| The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness. |
| Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative. |
| If it's going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately. |
| Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible, because otherwise the bleeding will not end. |
| Power is the great aphrodisiac. |
| The American foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was caused by applying valid principles to unsuitable conditions. |
| The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it's their fault. |
| Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions. |
| Whatever must happen ultimately should happen immediately. |
| Even a paranoid can have enemies. |
| A leader who confines his role to his people's experience dooms himself to stagnation; a leader who outstrips his people's experience runs the risk of not being understood. |
| Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts. |
| People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any form that would require me to stop talking for three hours. |
| Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. |
| Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God. |
| To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it. |
| Next week there can't be any crisis. My schedule is already full. |
| While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive. |
| The American temptation is to believe that foreign policy is a subdivision of psychiatry. |
