Diplomatic Quotes
More Diplomatic Quotes
The fundamental question for the United States is how it can cooperate to help meet the basic needs of the people of the hemisphere despite the philosophical disagreements it may have with the nature of particular regimes. It must seek pragmatic ways to help people without necessarily embracing their governments. It should recognize that diplomatic relations are merely practical conveniences and not measures of moral judgment.
— Nelson A. Rockefeller, "Quality of Life in the Americas," text of the Rockefeller Mission report, The Department of State Bulletin, December 8, 1969, p. 515.
English policy is to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boathook to avoid collisions.
Marquess of Salisbury Robert— 1877 Letter to Lord Lytton, 9 Mar.
The word 'security' is a broad, vague generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment. The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security ... .
hugo black— Concurring in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).
The American capitalists are richer and stronger than their counterparts in other lands. They are also younger and more ignorant, and therefore more inclined to seek a rough settlement of difficulties without diplomatic subtlety and finesse. All that does not change the fact that American capitalism operates according to the same laws as the others, is confronted with the same fundamental problems, and is headed toward the same catastrophe.
james p. cannon— Fascism and the workers' part
Benjamin Franklin, tactless in his youth, became so diplomatic, so adroit at handling people that he was made American Ambassador to France. The secret of his success? "I will speak ill of no man," he said, "...and speak all the good I know of everybody." Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving. "A great man shows his greatness," says Carlyle, "by the way he treats little men."
dale carnegie— How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), Part 1 : Fundamental Techniques in Handling People, p. 36.
Eden ha[s] put his country in a position where she sustained the greatest diplomatic reverse since Bismarck in similar circumstances had called Palmerston's bluff in the matter of Schleswig-Holstein...Further damage was done when Russia proved by her action in Spain, that she was not a good European as Mr. Eden had assured the world was the case.
anthony eden— Sir Charles Petrie, Lords of the Inland Sea (Lovat Dickson Ltd, 1937), pp. 272-6.
Would we if we could, educate and sophisticate pigs, geese, cattle? Would it be wise to establish diplomatic relations with the hen that now functions, satisfied with mere sense of achievement by way of compensation? I think we're property"
charles fort— p156
The historic role of the Conservative Party is to use the leverage of its political and diplomatic skills to create a fresh balance between the different elements within the state at those times when, for one reason or another, their imbalance threatens to disrupt the orderly development of society.
edward heath— Newspaper article, February 1975.
... no diplomatic intervention will ever be made by any government that I lead in support of any individual terrorist's life. We have only indicated in the past, and will maintain a policy in the future, of intervening diplomatically in support of Australian nationals who face capital sentences abroad.
kevin rudd— ALP in 'me-too' policy mess over death penalty
— Response to a backlash following statements made by Robert McClelland, days before the fifth anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings, who said that Labor would campaign internationally to stop executions of terrorists.
It's a psychological onslaught, an economic one, a diplomatic one, a military onslaught - a total onslaught.
pieter willem botha— Speaking to the House of Assembly on April 17, 1978, as quoted by Andrew Donaldson, Sunday Times, November 5, 2006.
The first thoughts of an Englishman on appointment to the office of Foreign Secretary must be that he speaks in the name, not of Great Britain only, but of the British Dominions beyond the seas, and that it is his imperative duty to preserve in word and act the diplomatic unity of the British Empire. Our interests are one. Our intercourse must be intimate and constant, and we must speak with one voice in the Councils of the world.
austen chamberlain— 1924. Quoted in H. Blair Neatby, William Lyon Mackenzie King (Methuen, 1963), p. 40.
One might ask what the reaction would be if a prominent journalist urged South Africans to "give Sambo a seat in the bus," or proposed that Jews be granted something to lose, because "if you give Hymie a seat in the bus, he may limit his demands." Promotion to chief diplomatic correspondent, perhaps?
thomas l. friedman— Noam Chomsky, Letters from Lexington (2004)
I despised Saddam Hussein, because he attacked Iran when my hostages were being held. It was President Reagan who established diplomatic relations with Saddam Hussein after I left office.
Saddam Hussein— Jimmy Carter (10 September 2007), interview with Democracy Now!, [4]
"You one of those right wing nut outfits?" inquired the diplomatic Metzger. Fallopian twinkled. "They accuse us of being paranoids." "They?" inquired Metzger, twinkling also. "Us?" asked Oedipa.
thomas pynchon— Chapter 3 (The Crying of Lot 49 (1966))
The Turkish denial [of the Armenian Genocide] is probably the foremost example of historical perversion. With a mix of academic sophistication and diplomatic thuggery -- of which we at Macquarie University have been targets -- the Turks have put both memory and history into reverse gear."
— Prof. Colin Tatz, Director, Centre for Comparative Genocide Studies, quoted in Pravda
The word "security" is a broad, vague generality whose contours should not be invoked to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment. The guarding of military and diplomatic secrets at the expense of informed representative government provides no real security four our Republic.
— Hugo L. Black, (New York Times Company v. United States, 1971).
We intercepted no transmissions. This is a consular ship. We're on a diplomatic mission-- Darth Vader: "If this is a consular ship, where is the Ambassador?"
Captain Raymus Antilles— Darth Vader and his Imperial Stormtroopers had been trying to find the plans to the Death Star. He tries to extract information from Captain Antilles, who was being lifted off of his feet by the neck. After failing to give the whereabouts of the plans, Antilles's neck is crushed by Vader, killing him.
Only the power of unbounded love practiced in regard to all human beings can defeat the forces of interhuman strife, and can prevent the pending extermination of man by man on this planet. Without love, no armament, no war, no diplomatic machinations, no coercive police force, no school education, no economic or political measures, not even hydrogen bombs can prevent the pending catastrophe.
pitirim sorokin— , p. xii (The Ways and Power of Love (1954))
The reason for having diplomatic relations is not to confer a compliment, but to secure a convenience.
winston churchill— In the House of Commons, November 17, 1949 "Foreign Affairs", on diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China, as cited in Churchill by Himself (2008), ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, p. 16 ISBN 1586486381
