Quote

The function of a briefing paper is to prevent the ambassador from saying something dreadfully indiscreet. I sometimes think its true object is to prevent the ambassador from saying anything at all.

Kingman Brewster, Jr.

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Age: 69 †
Born: 1919
Born: June 17
Died: 1988
Died: November 8
Diplomat
Educator
President
Galveston
Texas
Kingman Brewster
Jr.
True
Ambassador
Anything
Ambassadors
Sometimes
Prevent
Something
Object
Think
Function
Thinking
Paper
Indiscreet
Objects
Dreadfully
Saying
Briefing

More quotes by Kingman Brewster, Jr.

Image
Universities should be safe havens where ruthless examination of realities will not be distorted by the aim to please or inhibited by the risk of displeasure.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
The newspaper fits the reader's program while the listener must fit the broadcaster's program.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
It won't make for a quiet life but it will make for an interesting paper vastly more significant because it is doing something only a daily paper can do.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
It is satisfying for the descendant of a dissident refugee from Elizabeth I to present his credentials to Elizabeth II.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
There is no greater challenge than to have someone relying upon you no greater satisfaction than to vindicate his expectation.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
It is the natural desire of each nation to use the other as an instrument of its own purposes and policies. By dint of our mutual dependence, your influence is amplified by our power. Our power is made more responsible and more effective by your influence.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
The presumption of innocence is not just a legal concept. In commonplace terms, it rests on that generosity of spirit which assumes the best, not the worst, of the stranger.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
Perhaps the most fundamental value of a liberal education is that it makes life more interesting. It allows you to think things which do not occur to the less learned ... it makes it less likely that you will be bored with life.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
Maybe you are the cool generation. If coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
Judgment is more than skill. It sets forth on intellectual seas beyond the shores of hard indisputable factual information.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
You and I know that there is a correlation between the creative and the screwball. So we must suffer the screwball gladly.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.
Image
There is no lasting hope in violence, only temporary relief from hopelessness.
Kingman Brewster, Jr.