Henry Kissinger Quotes

Henry Kissinger

Profession : Statesman

Birth : May 27, 1923

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

Henry Kissinger

I don't see the wisdom in modern politicians that I once saw in men like Dean Acheson, David Bruce, or George Marshall. In my day, the northeastern establishment dominated foreign policy formulation, but the composition and distribution of our population is very different today.

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

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.

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

Leadership is absolutely vital if there are comparable countries which can affect the security of the world you live in. Between Lincoln and Roosevelt's time, America was protected by huge oceans and, in practice, by the British navy. Today, it's different, and the obsession of the Obama administration has been for retrenchment.

Henry Kissinger

It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.

Henry Kissinger

It's never happened in history that every region in the world could affect every other region simultaneously. The Roman empire and the Chinese empire didn't know much about each other and had no means of interacting. Now we have every continent able to reach every other.

Henry Kissinger

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.

Henry Kissinger

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Henry Kissinger

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

Henry Kissinger

Power is the great aphrodisiac.

Henry Kissinger

Accept everything about yourself - I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end - no apologies, no regrets.

Henry Kissinger

Whatever must happen ultimately should happen immediately.

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Henry Kissinger