Quote

Let me make my point about Vietnam. When the Nixon initiation came into office, there were 550,000 Americans in combat. And ending the war was not a question of turning off a television channel. And so, debating on how we got there and what judgments were made was not going to help us.

Henry A. Kissinger

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Henry A. Kissinger
Came
Combat
Help
Vietnam
Point
Turning
Debating
War
Judgment
Initiation
Helping
Americans
Nixon
Going
Office
Judgments
Made
Question
Channel
Make
Television
Ending

More quotes by Henry A. Kissinger

Image
Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
Committees are consumers and sometimes sterilizers of ideas, rarely creators of them.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
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
Image
In my view, there's no doubt that the Soviets had infinitely greater trouble holding their structure together than we did.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
An Iranian moderate is one who has run out of ammunition.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
In Asia, the nation state still is extremely vital, and of course, then in Africa, a whole new pattern is emerging because the states in Africa reflected the preferences of the colonial powers when they were established.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
In a diplomatic negotiation, you always meet the same the other side all the time. Even if you should succeed in outsmarting him or in pressuring him, it only sets up a cycle in which he will try to get even.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
For any student of history, change is the law of life. Any attempt to contain it guarantees an explosion down the road the more rigid the adherence to the status quo, the more violent the ultimate outcome will be.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
There is no realism without an element of idealism.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
I don't think that that's a desirable option for us. Besides, it wouldn't work, because there are too many other countries that are willing to work economically with China. But I don't think the basic relationship depends on economics. It depends on a political understanding of what is required for peace in Asia.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
Statesman create ordinary leaders consume. The ordinary leader is satisfied with ameliorating the environment, not transforming it a statesman must be a visionary and an educator.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
I believe that without Watergate we would have had an extraordinary period of success with a strong Nixon and a still vital Brezhnev in power.
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
I think China will do nothing to obstruct it, and they probably will go along with it.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
In relations with many domestically weak countries, a radio transmitter can be a more effective form of pressure than a squadron B-52s.
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
Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Henry A. Kissinger
Image
I can think of no faster way to unite the American people behind George W. Bush than a terrorist attack on an American target overseas. And I believe George W. Bush will quickly unite the American people through his foreign policy.
Henry A. Kissinger