Henry Kissinger Quotes

Henry Kissinger

Profession : Statesman

Birth : May 27, 1923

There is obviously a gap between the public's perception of the role of U.S. foreign policy and the elite's perception.

Henry Kissinger

I think we would find, if you study the conduct of guerilla-type wars, that the Obama Administration has hit more targets on a broader scale than the Nixon Administration ever did.

Henry Kissinger

I don't ascribe to myself any special competence in economic insight. I translate what I hear from highly intelligent people into political and philosophical propositions.

Henry Kissinger

I think when the president of the United States calls for military action, he should do it for a united people, especially when the methods have been so cruel, so explicitly directed at Americans.

Henry Kissinger

I have spoken to Chinese leaders occasionally on human rights, but I've always done it in private.

Henry Kissinger

Every first-term president has to learn something after he comes into office. Nobody can be completely ready for the inevitable crises.

Henry Kissinger

I think that America's recovery of a global strategic view is an absolutely essential element of our foreign policy.

Henry Kissinger

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both had exceptional natural abilities. Nelson Rockefeller was very good statewide but never gained national traction.

Henry Kissinger

My view of my role is that together with like-minded men and women, I could help contribute to a bipartisan view of American engagement in the world for another period; I could do my part to overcome this really, in a way, awful period in which we are turning history into personal recriminations, depriving our political system of a serious debate.

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

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

Henry Kissinger

A president has an inescapable responsibility to provide direction: What are we trying to achieve? What are we trying to prevent? Why? To do that, he has to both analyze and reflect.

Henry Kissinger