Diplomat Quotes

He wanted to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.

Nicholas Roosevelt

Now in my opinion, out of all the countries I have personally known, England is the one where public affairs are best conducted and regulated with least violence to the people. There no buildings are knocked down or demolished through war, and disaster and misfortune befall those who make war.

Philippe de Commines

You should take a good look at all sides of an issue before making a decision. Put something away in case of an emergency. New neighbors will bring good cheer. A small problem may occur at home base, but you will solve it quickly and correctly. Don't offer smart advice unless you are really asked to comment.

Poetry cannot report the event, it must be the event, lived through in a form that can speak about itself while remaining wholly itself.

Balachandra Rajan

History is filled with undistinguished leaders who succeeded because they had a flair for selecting sound counselors.

A mugwump is a person educated beyond his intellect.

Of these no more. From Orders, Slaves and Kings,
To thee, O Man, my heart rebounding springs.
Behold th' ascending bliss that waits your call,
Heav'n's own bequest, the heritage of all.
Awake to wisdom, seize the proffer'd prize;
From shade to light, from grief to glory rise.
Freedom at last, with Reason in her train,
Extends o'er earth her everlasting reign…

Today we only smile, we laugh no more,
And e'en our very pleasures seem to bore.

François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis

Individual liberty is the whole purpose of political life, and I thought it was threatened then [in 1964 becoming politically engaged at age 15] and I think it's threatened now.

If you achieve a voice that will be heard, you should use it to speak up for the voiceless and oppressed. If you possess any power or authority, you must strive to use it to help and empower the powerless.

Payola is the year's new word. It doesn't sound as ugly as bribe, but it means the same thing.

William Attwood

The human mind is prone to pride even when not supported by power; how much more, then, does it exalt itself when it has that support?

Full, sustained, and universal democracy and respect for human rights are our guideposts. On these we do not compromise.

In the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of champagne.

The soul of our service is the loyalty with which we execute ordained error.

Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart

We have shown that socialism is an incoherent combination of thesis and antithesis, which contradict and destroy one another. Catholicism, on the contrary forms a great synthesis which includes all things in its unity, and infuses them in its sovereign harmony. It may be affirmed of Catholic dogmas, that, although they are diverse, they are one. Only an abolute negation can be opposed to this wonderful synthesis. The Catholic word is then invincible and eternal. Nothing can diminish its sovereign viture.

Juan Donoso Cortés

When I was in the military I always made it my first mission to burn the enemy's crops!

William J. Crowe

If added power attends the united prayer of two or three, what mighty triumphs there will be when hundreds of thousands of consistent members of the Church are with one accord day by day making intercession for the extension of Christ's Kingdom.

The ideal civil servant should always be colourless, odourless and tasteless.

Roger Peyrefitte

My faith instills in me a deep sense of humility and gratitude, reminding me how often I fall short and how much I need the savior, and how thankful I am that God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.

We don't give them fish. However, we teach them fishing. In that way throughout your life you always have fish to eat. That is Taiwan's way in our joint co-operation in offering assistance to Taiwan's diplomatic allies in the Pacific. All these countries value their relationship with us very much.

Katharine Chang

Robert Spencer: Just ask all those secular republics in the Islamic world.

The gossip that came back to me from fashionable dinners where people pitied poor Romain Gary, who must be a little sad, a little jealous of the meteoric rise in the literary firmament of his cousin Emile Ajar… I've had a lot of fun. Good-bye, and thank you.

Last words:

I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile.

Pope Gregory VII

Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kowtow before any United States proconsul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.