quotations about diplomacy
The essence of diplomacy is communication. It is the means whereby sovereign states--notional persons--communicate with other states through their human representatives. Being notional they, like all such entities, can do so in no other way. And as virtually no state finds it practical or desirable either to live like a hermit or to engage externally in nothing but unannounced and undiscussed war, there is a universal imperative on states to engage in diplomacy.
LORNA LLOYD
Diplomacy with a Difference
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
SUN TZU
The Art of War
The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy -- give one and take ten.
MARK TWAIN
Bite-Size Twain: Wit and Wisdom from the Literary Legend
Diplomacy is like banking: it is about building up a deposit of goodwill to use when necessary.
HENG CHEE CHAN
attributed, Then, They Were Twelve: The Women of Washington's Embassy Row
You're in America now.... Our idea of diplomacy is showing up with a gun in one hand and a sandwich in the other and asking which you'd prefer.
JIM BUTCHER
Turn Coat
All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means.
ZHOU ENLAI
Saturday Evening Post, Mar. 27, 1954
An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.
SIR HENRY WOTTON
inscribed on the album of Christopher Fleckmore, 1604
Diplomacy is cutting the other fellow's throat without using a knife.
VERNON K. MCLELLAN
Wise Words and Quotes
Diplomacy goes even better with drinks.
THE TRAGICALLY HIP
"Wild Mountain Honey"
The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.
SCOTTY
"A Taste of Armageddon", Star Trek
There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.
JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
"The American Ambassador,", Foreign Service Journal, June 1969
I'm always diplomatic when heavily outnumbered by armed strangers.
S. M. STIRLING
The Sunrise Lands
Diplomacy is the art of telling somebody to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.
JOANIE WEXLER
Computerworld, Mar. 27, 2000
Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power.
ROBIN HOBB
Fool's Fate
Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
The Kennedy Presidential Press Conferences
Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.
AMERICAN PROVERB
When a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps; when he says perhaps, he means no; when he says no, he is no diplomat.
VERNON K. MCLELLAN
Wise Words and Quotes
DIPLOMACY, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.
AMBROSE BIERCE
The Devil's Dictionary
Diplomacy is the art of selling a deal you don't want to people you don't trust for reasons you won't admit to.
PROKOPIA LEKAPENE
ErraticErrata, So You Want to Be a Villain?
It was a mistake to speak one's mind at any time, unless it perfectly matched your political purpose; and it never did. Best to strip all statements of real content, this was the basic law of diplomacy.
KIM STANLEY ROBINSON
Red Mars