Henry Alfred Kissinger, was born on May 27, 1923 and he is an American politician, geopolitical consultant, and diplomat.
Henry Kissinger served in a prominent role as the National Security Advisor and 56th United States Secretary from September 22, 1973 to January 20, 1977, under the President Richard Nixon and Prseident Gerald Ford. He served as the president of National Security Affairs (NSA) from January 20, 1969 to November 3, 1975.
Henry Kissinger was renowned as a powerful orator. He would often express his thoughts on international relations, politics, peace, and diplomacy through his writings, interviews, speeches and other specific events. Continue reading this article to find a collection of the most impactful Henry Kissinger quotes about leadership, war, and politics.
Famous Henry Kissinger Quotes
Henry Kissinger was regarded as an influential figure in the Nixon administration. He was best known as an American political scientist. His reputation as a political scientist earned him a position as an advisor to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
Later, Henry Kissinger was appointed to the NSA and the National Security Council (NSC). He also served as the Secretary of State in September 1973. Find some of the most famous Henry Kissinger quotes below.
"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."
"To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it."
"I want to thank you for stopping the applause. It is impossible for me to look humble for any period of time."
"While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive."
"It has the added advantage of being true."
"Behind the slogans lay an intellectual vacuum."
"Whatever must happen ultimately should happen immediately."
"I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850."
"History knows no resting places and no plateaus."
"If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere."
"Diplomacy: the art of restraining power."
"Americans have a tendency to believe that when there's a problem there must be a solution."
"Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative."
"We cannot always assure the future of our friends; we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are."
"Covert action should not be confused with missionary work."
"Accept everything about yourself - I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end - no apologies, no regrets."
Henry Kissinger Quotes On Politics
(Political quotes from Henry Kissinger, inspired by his own experience, give insights into his political mind.)
As of 2022, Henry Kissinger is the last surviving cabinet member of the Nixon administration. He played a significant role in the United States' foreign policy on a global stage, stating that the country that demands moral perfection will never be able to achieve it. Below are some famous Henry Kissinger quotes on politics.
"History is the memory of States."
"The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously."
"Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad."
"Intellectuals analyze the operations of international systems; statesmen build them."
"A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security."
"We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one."
"Policy is the art of the possible, the science of the relative."
"In Washington...the appearance of power is therefore almost as important as the reality of it. In fact, the appearance is frequently its essential reality."
"The reason that university politics is so vicious is that stakes are so small."
"No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none."
"It is not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it."
"Empires have no interest in operating within an international system; they aspire to be the international system."
"The state is a fragile organization, and the statesman does not have the moral right to risk its survival on ethical restraint."
"America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests."
"It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true."
Henry Kissinger Quotes On Leadership
Henry Kissinger was renowned as a natural leader who was able to achieve major diplomatic goals. He eventually developed a policy that revolved around US relations with the then-Soviet Union which led to the 1969 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT).
He also played a significant role in developing a pro-Pakistan policy during the India-Pakistan War. Read some of the best Henry Kissinger quotes on successful leadership.
"Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision."
"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been."
"Art is man's expression of his joy in labor."
"A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure."
"A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone."
"Order should not have priority over freedom. But the affirmation of freedom should be elevated from a mood to a strategy."
"The important thing is to do the right thing. Then credibility will follow."
"Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies."
"Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions."
"Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God."
"If we do what is necessary, all the odds are in our favor."
"In crises, the most daring course is often safest."
"It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it."
"Facts are rarely self-explanatory; their significance, analysis, and interpretation—at least in the foreign policy world—depend on context and relevance."
"Don't be too ambitious. Do the most important thing you can think of doing every year and then your career will take care of itself."
Henry Kissinger Quotes On War
Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 and remained one of the finest minds and most iconic figures in the realm of foreign affairs. During his service as the NSA president, Kissinger pioneered the policy of détente with the then-Soviet Union.
Listed below are a few of the top Henry Kissinger quotes on war from his speeches, interviews, and writings.
"America has fought five wars since 1945 and has gained its objectives in only one of them, the Gulf War."
"We believe that peace is at hand."
"Who controls money controls the world."
"A turbulent history has taught Chinese leaders that not every problem has a solution and that too great an emphasis on total mastery over specific events could upset the harmony of the universe."
"You can't make war in the Middle East without Egypt and you can't make peace without Syria."
"Order without freedom, even if sustained by momentary exaltation, eventually creates its own counterpoise; yet freedom cannot be secured or sustained without a framework of order to keep the peace."
"You should not go to war for the privilege of withdrawal. You need to define your objective and the outcome, and it cannot be the removal of one man."
"For the greatest part of humanity and the longest periods of history, Empire has been the typical mode of government."
"No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time."
"A Harvard study has shown that in fifteen cases in history where a rising and an established power interacted, ten ended in war."
"In the end, peace can be achieved only by hegemony or by balance of power."
"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."
"Because complexity inhibits flexibility, early choices are especially crucial."
"Every victory is only the price of admission to a more difficult problem."
"Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts."
