State first, subject second, statesman last.

In a democracy government is the God.

Nine-nine of every hundred among you probably desire peace, while the balance may hold war a condition to be preferred; but what can be the mental norm of statesmanship where such a minority conquer the peace-lovers?

I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few.

I would rather contend with an honest asshole than a duplicitous diplomat.

Help yourself with the state! It's on democracy!

Diplomacy's primary law: LEAVE ROOM FOR NEGOTIATION.

An anti-politician is hardly an anti-politician once he starts winning and works to close the deal by working to sew up the Establishment.

Statesmen should remember that they have been elected to persuade and to lead, and not just to accept as fixed the momentary moods and pernicious prejudices of the public.

The author defines professionalism as exemplified by his subjects in their mutual unwillingness to take expected opposition personally. They would not allow grudges to get in the way of more important business.

Politics look very simple to the outsider whether he is a businessman or a soldier – it is only when you get into it that all the angles and hard work become apparent. James Forrestal

He had been around politicians for a long time, and he was prepared for some outburst.

[T]here cannot be a more certain symptom of the approaching ruin of a State than when a firm adherence to party is fixed upon as the only test of merit, and all the qualifications requisite to a right discharge of every employment, are reduced to that single standard.

The eternal sea of politics is best left to politicians.

Statesmanship is developed in the hard knocks of general experience, private and public.

presidents, when not outright telling lies, feel obliged to shade the truth most of the time. This is called politics; when a president lies successfully, he is called a statesman.

Americans talked about voters the same way Russians talked about Stalin. They had to be obeyed.

He believed that rank without power was a sham.

The reality is that the American people have no desire for an empire. This is not to say that they don't want the benefits, both economic and strategic. It simply means that they don't want to pay the price. Economically, Americans want the growth potential of open markets but not the pains. Politically, they want to have an enormous influence, but not the resentment of the world. Military, they want to be protected from dangers but not to bear the burdens of long-term strategy.

The President is also captured in a well-worn TV news clip, making a boilerplate response to a question on terrorism and then asking the reporters to watch his drive. Well, that's what you get if you catch the President on a golf course. If Eisenhower had done this, as he often did, it would have been presented as calm statesmanship. If Clinton had done it, as he often did, it would have shown his charm.

He had become, through a combination of heritage and character, a keeper of the national conscience.

This isn't about your reputation. Our job right now is to make sure that there to ARE future historians.

Ambassadors are the eye and ear of states.

Learn to think continentally.

Peace commerce and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none.

'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world - as far I mean as we are now at liberty to do it.

You can always get the truth from an American statesman after he has turned seventy or given up all hope of the Presidency.

An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth.