Obama is like a chess player who is playing simultaneous chess and has opened his game with an unusual opening. Henry A. Kissinger More Quotes by Henry A. Kissinger More Quotes From Henry A. Kissinger I believe it is a mistake to isolate arms control from other areas of policy. Henry A. Kissinger armsmistakebelieve I have learned, as I wrote, that history must be discovered, not declared. It's an admission that one grows in life. Henry A. Kissinger i-have-learnedadmissiongrows In the middle '50s, I had written that the point would come, inevitably, at which the relationship between the cause of conflict and political objectives would be lost. Henry A. Kissinger politicalcauseswould-be In my view, there's no doubt that the Soviets had infinitely greater trouble holding their structure together than we did. Henry A. Kissinger viewsdoubttogether The Russian empire under czars and commissars has been hard to deal with for other countries. Henry A. Kissinger empiresdealscountry I believe in freedom of expression, and I believe that societies thrive when they permit freedom of expression. Henry A. Kissinger permitexpressionbelieve I believe that there is a whole set of issues in the world - environment, proliferation, energy, cyberspace - that can only be dealt with on a global basis. The traditional patterns of national rivalry and national competition are not suitable for those cases. Henry A. Kissinger issuescompetitionbelieve I have always expressed respect for those people who make public declarations. Henry A. Kissinger declarationpeople Almost every peace process that has gone on between the Arab side and Israel, the United States has been somewhat isolated because most of the countries in the world, what they really want is to accept the Arab peace plan or so-called peace plan, which in its present form would lead to the destruction of Israel. Henry A. Kissinger united-statesisraelcountry I do not criticize people who take a public stand on human rights issues. I express my respect for them. But some people are more influential without a public confrontation. Henry A. Kissinger issuesrightspeople In the period after the Second World War, there were still leaders in Europe who represented weak countries, but possessed a sense of global foreign policy. Nowadays, on the other hand, there are politicians who represent pretty powerful countries, but whose citizens are not prepared to sacrifice themselves for the state. Henry A. Kissinger powerfulwarcountry I don't know what happens in the next years. But I cannot now design a policy in which we try to keep China from developing, because in some years, if they develop, they might be rich enough to challenge us, and adopt the principle that we will hold down any state that might in the future become strong. That would make us a world empire for which we wouldn't have the talents or the convictions. Henry A. Kissinger designstrongyears I have great respect for the Taiwanese. They have done an extraordinary job. But it was not a sustainable position to say that the legitimate government of China resides in Taiwan, which at that time didn't have much contact with the mainland. Henry A. Kissinger taiwangovernmentjobs I don't consider China a communist state, no. I know that sounds paradoxical, but it's my view. Henry A. Kissinger communistviewssound The China of the 1970s was a communist dictatorship. The China of the twenty-first century is a one-party state without a firm ideological foundation, more similar to Mexico under the PRI than Russia under Stalin. But the measurement of the political and the economic evolution has not yet been completed, and is one of the weak points of the system. Henry A. Kissinger russiapoliticalparty When I first saw China, there were no automobiles. There were no supermarkets. There were no high-rise buildings. There were no consumer goods. There were no restaurants that were at least accessible that foreigners could see. It was a Stalinist society, and a very poor Stalinist society. So the economic system has totally changed, and the private sector in the economic system is now the dominant sector. It didn't exist at all as late as 1979. Henry A. Kissinger sawsbuildingfirsts What is applicable is to understand that first of all China has undergone a huge revolution in the last years. Anyone who saw China as I did in 1971 - and for that matter even in 1979, because not much had changed between 1971 and 1979 - and sees China today, knows one is in a different economic system. Henry A. Kissinger differentmatteryears I wouldn't say it's a split. It's a difference of emphasis. It does exist between, I would say, the State Department and the Defense Department. Henry A. Kissinger differencesdefensedoe American politics are normally a result of pragmatic and not philosophical reasoning. No one in Washington has said we now prefer multilateralism. Henry A. Kissinger philosophicalresultssaid Statesmen think in terms of history and view society as an organism. Prophets are different since they believe absolute aims can be achieved in the foreseeable future. More people have been killed by crusaders than by statesmen. Henry A. Kissinger viewsbelievethinking
