Quote

The idea of abstract power only exists for academics, not in real life.

Henry A. Kissinger

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Henry A. Kissinger
Academics
Abstract
Exists
Idea
Power
Ideas
Real
Life

More quotes by Henry A. Kissinger

Image
To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
The nice thing about being a celebrity is that, if you bore people, they think it's their fault.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
Certainly not a party of the workers and the peasants. In fact, Jiang Zemin in recent weeks has officially said that capitalists and the entrepreneurs should be enrolled in the Communist Party.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
If eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of all of your items, just carry those twenty percent.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
The first reactions are often instinctive. So one of the first things we said was that the Chinese had no right to inspect the plane, and that we had a sovereign right to. I don't know what the legal position is, but it was surely psychologically absolutely the unwise thing to do.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
I don't have a brief for every single reaction of Israel, but I think it is important that the political negotiations occur free of the threat of terrorism.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
This country cannot afford to tear itself apart on a partisan basis on issues so vital to our national security.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
American politics are normally a result of pragmatic and not philosophical reasoning. No one in Washington has said we now prefer multilateralism.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
University politics make me long for the simplicity of the Middle East.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
If peace is equated simply with the absence of war, it can become abject pacifism that turns the world over to the most ruthless.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
We cannot give Russia veto over deployment of forces on NATO territory. But we have to understand their particular sensitivities, and, therefore, there should be a dialogue on these issues.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
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
Image
World population needs to be decreased by 50%
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
China is a country with a record of continuous self-government going back 4,000 years, the only society that has achieved this. One must start with the assumption that they must have learnt something about the requirements for survival, and it is not always to be assumed that we know it better than they do.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
In my particular case foreign policy happens to be my hobby, my consuming interest. I had spent decades studying it.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
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