Quote By Henry Kissinger

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

Former US Secretary Of State And National Security Advisor

Born: May 27, 1923

Died: November 29, 2023

Henry Kissinger, Nobel laureate and former U.S. Secretary of State, played a key role in shaping 20th-century diplomacy with a realpolitik approach.

Explanation Of The Quote

This quote critiques the tendency of some Americans to oversimplify or misunderstand foreign policy, treating it as a matter of understanding and addressing the psychological motivations of other nations rather than a complex interplay of political, economic, and cultural factors.

More Quotes By Henry Kissinger

Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.

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Because complexity inhibits flexibility, early choices are especially crucial.

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Americans have a tendency to believe that when there's a problem there must be a solution.

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Facts are rarely self-explanatory; their significance, analysis, and interpretation—at least in the foreign policy world—depend on context and relevance.

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The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small.

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The state is a fragile organization, and the statesman does not have the moral right to risk its survival on ethical restraint.

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It is not often that nations learn from the past,even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.

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Behind the slogans lay an intellectual vacuum.

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Every victory is only the price of admission to a more difficult problem.

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A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security.