Henry A. Kissinger

The Vietnam War required us to emphasize the national interest rather than abstract principles. What President Nixon and I tried to do was unnatural. And that is why we didn't make it. ↗

— Henry A. Kissinger

#emphasize #i #i tried #interest #make

To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it. ↗

— Henry A. Kissinger

#absolutely #certain #everything #know #must

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small. ↗

— Henry A. Kissinger

#politics #precisely #small #stakes #university

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God. ↗

— Henry A. Kissinger

#attempting #blessed #destiny #eye #flinching

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

— Henry A. Kissinger

#am #being #book #first #frank

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. ↗

— Henry A. Kissinger

#captured #consider #duress #ever #i

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

— Henry A. Kissinger

#could #end #fulfilling #greek #his

Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts. ↗

— Henry A. Kissinger

#country #experts #foreign #highly #history

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

— Henry A. Kissinger

#american foreign policy #applying #caused #conditions #foreign

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

— Henry A. Kissinger

#believe #foreign #foreign policy #policy #psychiatry