A Quote by Henry A. Kissinger

History is not, of course, a cookbook offering pretested recipes. It teaches by analogy, not by maxims. It can illuminate the consequences of actions in comparable situations, yet each generation must discover for itself what situations are in fact comparable.

Henry A. Kissinger

Quote Topics

Actions Analogy Comparable Consequences Cookbook Course Discover Each Each Generation Fact Generation History Illuminate In Fact Itself Maxims Must Offering Recipes Situations Teaches

Quote Author

Henry A. Kissinger
Born: May 27, 1923

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.

Henry A. Kissinger

My mistake was to project my skill beyond the limits of experience. I began investing outside the industries which I believe I thoroughly understood, in completely different spheres of activity; situations where I did not have comparable background knowledge.

Philip Arthur Fisher

We must begin by admitting that people and situations do not cause us to speak as we do. Our hearts control our words. People and situations simply provide the occasion for the heart to express itself.

Paul David Tripp

Change itself is what fascinates me. I am drawn, as a moth to the flame, by edge situations, by situations of metamorphosis.

Annie Proulx

I suspect millions of people from my generation probably have comparable stories to tell: if not of sports simulations then of Dungeons & Dragons, or the geopolitical strategy of games like Diplomacy, a kind of chess superimposed onto actual history.

Steven Johnson

History can't tell us. Each generation must define itself.

Geoffrey Ward

Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to support deficit spending. No private embezzlers or bank robbers in history have ever plundered people's savings on a scale comparable to the plunder perpetrated by the fiscal policies of statist governments.

Ayn Rand

When we are confronted with extreme situations, we forget about moral issues; we simply act and must then accept the consequences.

Park Chan-wook

I made advances towards multiple women in work-related situations, where it was clearly inappropriate. I put people in compromising and inappropriate situations, and I selfishly took advantage of those situations where I should have known better. My behavior was inexcusable and wrong.

Dave McClure

There are but few saints amongst scientists, as among other men, but truth itself is a goal comparable with sanctity.

George Sarton

Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.

Josemaria Escriva

I appreciate recipes that tell you what can be changed and what must remain fixed. 'The Zuni Cafe Cookbook' by the late Judy Rodgers is superb at this.

Bee Wilson

I didn't come from the worst of situations, and I didn't come into the best of situations. But I've appreciated the best situations. And I've made the best of the worst situations. I'm lucky to be where I am.

Ashton Kutcher

It must be said that today, at the end of its semantic evolution, the word 'terrorist' is an intrinsically propagandistic term. It has no neutral readability. It dispenses with all reasoned examination of political situations, of their causes and consequences.