Quotes By Henry A. Kissinger

The statesman's duty is to bridge the gap between his nation's experience and his vision.

I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.

The American foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was caused by applying valid principles to unsuitable conditions.

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

Power is the great aphrodisiac.

Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts.

The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.

If it's going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

If eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of all of your items, just carry those twenty percent.

You can't make war in the Middle East without Egypt and you can't make peace without Syria.

Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible, because otherwise the bleeding will not end.

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.

The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness.

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.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

The American temptation is to believe that foreign policy is a subdivision of psychiatry.

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.