Explore Quotes by Henry A. Kissinger

It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true.

The issues are too important to be left for the voters.

Oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the Arabs.

This is awful. Do it again.

I don't read books, I write them.

The real distinction is between those who adapt their purposes to reality and those who seek to mold reality in the light of their purposes.

We believe that peace is at hand.

A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.

I go out with actresses because I'm not apt to marry one.

The enemies you make by taking a decided stand generally have more respect for you than the friends you make by being on the fence

Does anyone have any questions for my answers?

There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane: Either you have diarrhea, or you're anxious to meet people who do.

If we do what is necessary, all the odds are in our favor.

A little uncertainty is good for everyone.

It is not often that nations learn from the past even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it. For the lessons of historical experience, as of personal experience, are contingent. They teach the consequences of certain actions, but they cannot force a recognition of comparable situations.

You're 18 points down [in the polls]... You might as well do what's right.

How to Achieve The New World Order

China had never had to deal in a world of countries of approximately equal strength, and so to adjust to such a world, is in itself a profound challenge to China, which now has fourteen countries on its borders, some of which are small, but can project their nationality into China, some of which are large, and historically significant, so that any attempt by Chinese to dominate the world, would involve in a disastrous for the peace of the world.

Create the impression of endless willingness to compromise and you almost invite deadlines. That's the challenge we now have in North Korea and have had in North Korea for 10 years. In this sense, diplomacy and foreign policy and other elements of political activity have to be closely linked and have to be understood by the negotiators

I would say the special experience of American wartime policy in the last 40 years, from Vietnam on, is that the war itself became controversial in the country and that the most important thing we need in the current situation is, whatever disagreements there may be on tactics, that the legitimacy of the war itself does not become a subject of controversy. We have to start with the assumption, obviously, that whatever administration is conducting a war wants to end it.

China is a country with a record of continuous self-government going back 4,000 years, the only society that has achieved this. One must start with the assumption that they must have learnt something about the requirements for survival, and it is not always to be assumed that we know it better than they do.