Any international system must have two key elements for it to work. One, it has to have a certain equilibrium of power that makes overthrowing the system difficult and costly. Secondly, it has to have a sense of legitimacy. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
It is not often that nations learn from the past even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it. For the lessons of historical experience, as of personal experience, are contingent. They teach the consequences of certain actions, but… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
I believe it is a mistake to isolate arms control from other areas of policy. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." [...]… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
The convictions that leaders have formed before reaching high office are the intellectual capital they will consume as long as they continue in office. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Nothing is more urgent than a serious, dare I say compassionate, debate as to where we are going at home and abroad. Technicians cannot… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Jews were segregated from 1933 on. We could only play against other Jewish teams. This wasn't just social segregation; this was the beginning of… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
The Russian people, at least the ones I know, have pride in being a Russian. And, therefore, they want to be taken seriously in… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane: Either you have diarrhea, or you're anxious to meet people… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
John Paul II was one of the greatest men of the last century. Perhaps the greatest. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Taiwan will probably not declare independence. The question isn't independence. The issue is whether Taiwan will declare itself as a sovereign separate state. That… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share 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… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
![“Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." [...] But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.” quote by Henry A. Kissinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6dc/henry-a-kissinger-1068_freedom_before-the-freedom-of-information-act-i_25339.jpg)
