Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed. History is a tale of efforts that failed, or aspirations that weren’t realized… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
For any student of history, change is the law of life. Any attempt to contain it guarantees an explosion down the road;… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
I have learned, as I wrote, that history must be discovered, not declared. It's an admission that one grows in life. — 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… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Statesmen think in terms of history and view society as an organism. Prophets are different since they believe absolute aims can be… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
The Gorbachev period is conceived as an abandonment of historic Russian positions. So this is the framework, in my view, in which… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
The problem is Russia is a country that has lost 300 years of its history, in terms of most of what was… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
History is not, of course, a cookbook offering pretested recipes. It teaches by analogy, not by maxims. It can illuminate the consequences… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
You should not think that you can shape history only by your will. This is also why I'm against the concept of… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Nixon had three goals: to win by the biggest electoral landslide in history; to be remembered as a peacemaker; and to be… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
China has had a long and complex history and has managed to evolve its own culture for 4,000 years. It therefore not… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
We attempted to try to solve every problem in the world, out of a sense of moral obligations, and attitudes, and our… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
My country's history, Mr. President, tells us that it is possible to fashion unity while cherishing diversity, that common action is possible… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one. Putin… — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
For the Soul of France is masterful history, brilliantly researched, and hard to put down. — Henry A. Kissinger Copy Share Image
Certainly nothing is easier than to rewrite history. If we had made Taiwan a separate state, it would have led to a… — 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
