Henry A. Kissinger Quotes

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

"The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness."

"Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative."

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

"Power is the great aphrodisiac."

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

"People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any form that would require me to stop talking for three hours."

"Even a paranoid has some real enemies."

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

"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government." - Henry Kissinger in an address to the Bilderberger meeting at Evian, France, May 21, 1992. (in an address to the Bilderberger organization meeting at Evian, France, on May 21, 1991. As transcribed from a tape recording made by one of the Swiss delegates. )"

"History knows no resting place and no plateaus"

"The president has said publicly, and he has told me privately, that he has every intention to carry out the recommendations of the commission,"

"People think responsibility is hard to bear. It's not. I think that sometimes it is the absence of responsibility that is harder to bear. You have a great feeling of impotence."

"If I should ever be captured, I want no negotiation - and if I should request a negotiation from captivity they should consider that a sign of duress."

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

"No foreign policy - no matter how ingenious - has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none."

"Next week there can't be any crisis. My schedule is already full."

"Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions."

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

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