Richard Holbrooke

It's an improvisation on a theme. You know where you want to go, but you don't know how to get there. It's…

— Richard Holbrooke

There are certain kinds of second-tier confrontations which the U.S. does not need to get directly involved in. However, even in the…

— Richard Holbrooke

I think Americans understand that in Afghanistan, unlike in Iraq and Vietnam, we are fighting an enemy allied with the people who…

— Richard Holbrooke

You have to test your hypothesis against other theories. Certainty in the face of complex situations is very dangerous.

— Richard Holbrooke

United Nations peacekeepers are going all over the world spreading AIDS even while they're trying to bring peace. What a supreme irony.

— Richard Holbrooke

Diplomacy is like jazz: endless variations on a theme.

— Richard Holbrooke

In diplomacy, as in life itself, one often learns more from failures than from successes. Triumphs will seem, in retrospect, to be…

— Richard Holbrooke

The United States supports the reintegration of people who have fought with the Taliban into Afghan society provided they: one, renounce al…

— Richard Holbrooke

World War I was not inevitable, as many historians say. It could have been avoided, and it was a diplomatically botched negotiation.

— Richard Holbrooke

You will never catch up with the spread of AIDS no matter how much money, no matter how many antiretrovirals are put…

— Richard Holbrooke

A peace deal requires agreements, and you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies.

— Richard Holbrooke

We should not be surprised that democracy is imperfect even in Western countries.

— Richard Holbrooke

Bureaucracies have a natural tendency not to cooperate, coordinate or consolidate with each other. They won't cooperate with each other - unless…

— Richard Holbrooke

A world without the United Nations or with a paralyzed United Nations would be far more costly to all of us and…

— Richard Holbrooke

I'm not a wide-eyed imperialist who wants to see Americans manning outposts all over the world. Not outposts to freedom in the…

— Richard Holbrooke

There is a split between Muslims who want to practice their faith in peace and tolerance with other religions and other people,…

— Richard Holbrooke

"I tell you," he [Milosevic] continued, "Izetbegovic has earned Sarajevo by not abandoning it. He's one tough guy. It's his". These words…

— Richard Holbrooke

Our enemy is Al Qaeda and its allies, people who have publicly said they wish to attack the United States again, people…

— Richard Holbrooke

There's no question that the next generation of terrorists, rather than going for small, little dramas, will go for the big one.…

— Richard Holbrooke

Nothing generates more heat in the government than the question of who is chosen to participate in important meetings.

— Richard Holbrooke

Elections are rarely perfect.

— Richard Holbrooke

The United Nations is an indispensable but deeply flawed organization. It is valuable to the United States, and the United States is…

— Richard Holbrooke

The World War II generation believed the United States could do anything - anything... And Vietnam was a shattering experience for everyone.

— Richard Holbrooke

In short, you can't let the deadline define the mission. The mission has to define the duration.

— Richard Holbrooke

I have worked in every - every Democratic administration since the Kennedy administration, and I know dysfunctionality when I see it.

— Richard Holbrooke