Top 76 Quotes & Sayings by Henry Kissinger - Page 2

The Vietnam War was a great tragedy for our country. And it is now far enough away so that one can study without using the slogans to see what's really happened.

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.

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.

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

The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.

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.

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

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

The tragedy of America is that it entered all the wars with a consensus in favor of them, but within a defined period, the legitimacy of the war became a major domestic issue, with some people arguing that withdrawal was the only legitimate objective.

I have not endorsed Trump and will not do so.

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

I have been a professor, and I have been a policymaker, and as a professor, you think in terms of truth or absolutes.

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

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

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

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