The Gorbachev period is conceived as an abandonment of historic Russian positions. So this is the framework, in my view, in which Putin operates. Henry A. Kissinger More Quotes by Henry A. Kissinger More Quotes From Henry A. Kissinger The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness. Henry A. Kissinger transcendentalism loneliness essence The British capitalize on their accent when they don't want you to know what they're saying. But if you wake them up at 4 A.M., they speak perfect English, the same as we do. Henry A. Kissinger perfect home travel Committees are consumers and sometimes sterilizers of ideas, rarely creators of them. Henry A. Kissinger committees sometimes ideas The American temptation is to believe that foreign policy is a subdivision of psychiatry. Henry A. Kissinger foreign-policy temptation believe For the Soul of France is masterful history, brilliantly researched, and hard to put down. Henry A. Kissinger hard france soul Henceforth the adequacy of any military establishment will be tested by its ability to preserve the peace. Henry A. Kissinger adequacy establishment military 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 principles president war An expert is someone who articulates the needs of those in power. Henry A. Kissinger experts needs Some of the critics viewed Vietnam as a morality play in which the wicked must be punished before the final curtain and where any attempt to salvage self-respect from the outcome compounded the wrong. I viewed it as a genuine tragedy. No one had a monopoly on anguish. Henry A. Kissinger military self play China had never had to deal in a world of countries of approximately equal strength, and so to adjust to such a world, is in itself a profound challenge to China, which now has fourteen countries on its borders, some of which are small, but can project their nationality into China, some of which are large, and historically significant, so that any attempt by Chinese to dominate the world, would involve in a disastrous for the peace of the world. Henry A. Kissinger challenges profound country The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision. Each side should know that frequently uncertainty, compromise, and incoherence are the essence of policymaking. Yet each tends to ascribe to the other a consistency, foresight, and coherence that its own experience belies. Of course, over time, even two armed blind men can do enormous damage to each other, not to speak of the room. Henry A. Kissinger essence men believe History knows no resting places and no plateaus Henry A. Kissinger plateaus historical history Where position is felt to be a birthright, generosity is possible (though not guaranteed); flexibility is not inhibited by a commitment to perpetual success. Henry A. Kissinger aristocracy generosity commitment The public life of every political figure is a continual struggle to rescue an element of choice from the pressure of circumstance. Henry A. Kissinger political choices struggle Now when I bore people at a party they think it's their fault. Henry A. Kissinger party power thinking To revolutionaries the significant reality is the world which they are fighting to bring about, not the world they are fighting to overcome. Henry A. Kissinger fighting overcoming reality The true conservative is not at home in social struggle. He will attempt to avoid unbridgeable schism, because he knows that a stable social structure thrives not on triumphs but on reconciliations. Henry A. Kissinger triumph struggle home Tutelage is a comfortable relationship for the senior partner, but it is demoralizing in the long run. It breeds illusions of omniscience on one side and attitudes of impotent irresponsibility on the other. Henry A. Kissinger senior running attitude Behind the slogans lay an intellectual vacuum. Henry A. Kissinger vacuums behinds intellectual Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. History is a tale of efforts that failed, or aspirations that weren’t realized. So, as a historian, one has to live with a sense of the inevitability of tragedy. Henry A. Kissinger effort tragedy civilization
