100+ Henry Kissinger Quotes

100+ Henry Kissinger Quotes is a compilation of insightful and impactful quotes from the distinguished American diplomat, political scientist, and Nobel laureate, Henry Kissinger. With over a hundred quotes, this collection reflects Kissinger’s extensive experience in international relations, diplomacy, and statesmanship. Each quote offers valuable insights into foreign policy, geopolitics, and leadership, making it a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and those interested in understanding the complexities of global affairs.

Henry Kissinger Quotes

” “If you don’t know where you are going

every road will get you nowhere.” — Henry Kissinger”

“It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it” — Henry Kissinger

“There can’t be a crisis next week, my schedule is already full.” — Henry Kissinger

“Even a paranoid can have enemies.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“The American temptation is to believe that foreign policy is a subdivision of psychiatry.” — Henry Kissinger

“Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.” — Henry Kissinger

“If eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of all of your items, just carry those twenty percent.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness.” — Henry Kissinger

“Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There is too much fraternizing with the enemy.” — Henry Kissinger

“In crises, the most daring course is often safest.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.” — Henry Kissinger

“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” — Henry Kissinger

“If it’s going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“Power is the great aphrodisiac.” — Henry Kissinger

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” — Henry Kissinger

“It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible because otherwise, the bleeding will not end.” — Henry Kissinger

“It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true..” — Henry Kissinger

“If I should ever be captured, I want no negotiation – and if I should request a negotiation from captivity they should consider that a sign of duress.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any form that would require me to stop talking for three hours.” — Henry Kissinger

“America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.” — Henry Kissinger

“The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it’s their fault.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“Even a paranoid has some real enemies.” — Henry Kissinger

“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

“I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.” — Henry Kissinger

“It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“The president has said publicly, and he has told me privately, that he has every intention to carry out the recommendations of the commission,” — Henry Kissinger

“There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” — Henry Kissinger

“For other nations, utopia is a blessed past never to be recovered; for Americans, it is just beyond the horizon.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“People think responsibility is hard to bear. It’s not. I think that sometimes it is the absence of responsibility that is harder to bear. You have a great feeling of impotence.” — Henry Kissinger

“Every victory is only the price of admission to a more difficult problem.” — Henry Kissinger

“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.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“If I should ever be captured, I want no negotiation – and if I should request a negotiation from captivity they should consider that a sign of duress.” — Henry Kissinger

“A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security.” — Henry Kissinger

“Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.” — Henry A. Kissinger

“While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.” — Henry Kissinger

“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.” — Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger Best Line

“High office teaches decision making, not substance. It consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it. Most high officials leave the office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered; they learn how to make decisions but not what decisions to make.” — Henry A. Kissinger

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.

Power is the great aphrodisiac.

The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.

Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.

History knows no resting places and no plateaus.

The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.

Accept everything about yourself—I mean everything, you are you, and that is the beginning and the end—no apologies, no regrets.

Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There’s just too much fraternizing with the enemy.

The task of diplomacy is not to provide more fodder for the minds of the converted but to prepare the ground for decisions.

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

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.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.

The essence of Richard Nixon is loneliness.

It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.

The statesman’s duty is to bridge the gap between his nation’s experience and his vision.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.

The security of the world requires changing the character of foreign policy to integrate it with the need for world order.

Even a paranoid can have enemies.

A leader who confines his role to his people’s experience dooms himself to stagnation; a leader who outstrips his people’s experience runs the risk of not being understood.

Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor.

In crises, the most daring course is often safest.

Realpolitik consists in knowing the rules of the game.

People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any form that would require me to stop talking for three hours.

The security of one’s own people could not be divorced from broader objectives of world order.

In the end, peace can be achieved only by hegemony or by balance of power.

Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.

The statesman’s duty is to bridge the gap between his nation’s experience and his vision.

The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.

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.

To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.

If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There’s too much fraternizing with the enemy.

Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.

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.

The longer I am out of office, the more infallible I appear to myself.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true.

The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.

There is no such thing as a little war. When one occurs, it means that the nations have not been wise enough to prevent it.

I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people.

The greatest crises in American history have occurred when there has been a lack of direction and a doctrine of purpose.

People are generally amazed that I would take an interest in any form that would require me to stop talking for three hours.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

The statesman’s duty is to bridge the gap between his nation’s experience and his vision.