---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of…"
description: "\"Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of destiny.\" — Mason Cooley"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png"
---

#  Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of destiny.

![“Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of destiny.” quote by Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png)

> “Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of destiny.”

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Diplomats often rationalize their actions as part of a grand destiny, masking self‑interest.

**In simple terms:** Diplomats claim destiny to justify actions.

Key Takeaway

Question the motives behind diplomatic decisions.

Themes

politics ethics power

Mood

skeptical inquisitive

Type

critical philosophical

When to use this quote

- international negotiations
- policy making
- public statements

Key Concepts

realpolitik moral justification

Questions to Reflect On

- What ethical limits should guide diplomatic conduct?
- How does destiny framing affect accountability?

A Different Perspective

Diplomats may genuinely believe in their mission.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Destiny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destiny/) [Diplomacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diplomacy/) [Diplomats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diplomats/) [Diplomats Lie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diplomats-lie-4331000/) [Heavy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heavy/) [Heavy Sense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heavy-sense-5687232/) [Lie Heavy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lie-heavy-1061961/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Sense Destiny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-destiny-585484/)

## Related quotes

> [How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/how-is-the-world-ruled-and-led-to-war-diplomats-lie-to-journalists/)

[Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/)

> [“A good, solid, beefy lie is too heavy to stand on its own. It needs smaller, quicker, more complicated lies to hold it up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/a-good-solid-beefy-lie-is-too-heavy-to-stand-on-its-own-it-needs/)

[Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/)

> [He that commits a sin shall find the pressing guilt lie heavy on his mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-creech/he-that-commits-a-sin-shall-find-the-pressing-guilt-lie-heavy-on-his/)

[Thomas Creech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-creech/)

> [Diplomacy, of course, is a subtle and nuanced craft, so much so that it's said that when the most wily diplomat of the nineteenth-century…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/diplomacy-of-course-is-a-subtle-and-nuanced-craft-so-much-so-that-it/)

[Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/)

> [Diplomats make it their business to conceal the facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/diplomats-make-it-their-business-to-conceal-the-facts/)

[Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/)

> [International arbitration may be defined as the substitution of many burning questions for a smoldering one](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/international-arbitration-may-be-defined-as-the-substitution-of-many/)

[Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/)

> [Modern diplomats approach every problem with an open mouth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-goldberg/modern-diplomats-approach-every-problem-with-an-open-mouth/)

[Arthur Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-goldberg/)

> [“Anyone who has had anything to do with the higher diplomacy is aware that diplomatic language stands in a class by itself. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-g-wodehouse/anyone-who-has-had-anything-to-do-with-the-higher-diplomacy-is-aware/)

[P.G. Wodehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-g-wodehouse/)

> [The basic quality for the diplomat is not intelligence but loyalty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-northcote-parkinson/the-basic-quality-for-the-diplomat-is-not-intelligence-but-loyalty/)

[C. Northcote Parkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-northcote-parkinson/)

> [Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/diplomats-are-just-as-essential-to-starting-a-war-as-soldiers-are-for/)

[Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/)

> [Moskin has brought together with care and lucidity an inside history of American diplomacy written through the eyes of the many diplomats who conceived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-r-pickering/moskin-has-brought-together-with-care-and-lucidity-an-inside-history/)

[Thomas R. Pickering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-r-pickering/)

> [Diplomacy is to do and say, the nastiest thing in the nicest way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-goldberg/diplomacy-is-to-do-and-say-the-nastiest-thing-in-the-nicest-way/)

[Isaac Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-goldberg/)

> [Only professional diplomats, inveterate idiots and women view diplomacy as a long-term substitute for war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mitchell/only-professional-diplomats-inveterate-idiots-and-women-view/)

[David Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mitchell/)

> [When we put our trust in diplomacy, it is not because it is an inspiring or uplifting discourse or because it helps us see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-feldman/when-we-put-our-trust-in-diplomacy-it-is-not-because-it-is-an/)

[Noah Feldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-feldman/)

> [As a 29 year veteran of the US Army/Army Reserves, retiring as a Colonel and having served as a U.S. diplomat for 16 years…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-wright/as-a-29-year-veteran-of-the-us-army-army-reserves-retiring-as-a/)

[Ann Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-wright/)

## More by Mason Cooley

> [Nostalgia keeps dissolving the ironic narratives in which I have contained my past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/nostalgia-keeps-dissolving-the-ironic-narratives-in-which-i-have/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-abject-have-a-sense-of-superiority-based-on-powerful/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Money comes to life as it is spent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/money-comes-to-life-as-it-is-spent/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Even the most fickle are faithful to a few bad habits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-fickle-are-faithful-to-a-few-bad-habits/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Rage is exciting, but leaves me confused and exhausted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/rage-is-exciting-but-leaves-me-confused-and-exhausted/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty-the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literary-tradition-is-full-of-lies-about-poverty-the-jolly-beggar-the/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Experience teaches us, but we scarcely know what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/experience-teaches-us-but-we-scarcely-know-what/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [The body has a mind of its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-body-has-a-mind-of-its-own/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [In retirement, I look for days off from my days off. Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-retirement-i-look-for-days-off-from-my-days-off-mason-cooley/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/my-intentions-go-one-way-my-desires-another-thus-i-feel-both-self/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [The Puritan sours his pleasures by disguising them as duties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-puritan-sours-his-pleasures-by-disguising-them-as-duties/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/unlike-the-actual-the-fictional-explains-itself/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Vacations prove that a life of pleasure is overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/vacations-prove-that-a-life-of-pleasure-is-overrated/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/outside-literature-high-flown-sentiments-are-merely-exasperating/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

[Explore all 1,401 Mason Cooley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

## More Destiny quotes

> [... War on the destiny of man! Doom on the sun! Before death takes you, O take back this.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/war-on-the-destiny-of-man-doom-on-the-sun-before-death-takes-you-o/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Anatomy is destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/anatomy-is-destiny/)

[Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/)

> [“You are destiny for greatness. Your future is in the hands of the Lord.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/you-are-destiny-for-greatness-your-future-is-in-the-hands-of-the-lord/)

[Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/)

> [“To be a Sufi is to detach from fixed ideas and from preconceptions; and not to try to avoid what is your lot.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/to-be-a-sufi-is-to-detach-from-fixed-ideas-and-from-preconceptions/)

[Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/)

> [ Man blindly works the will of fate. \[Ger., Blindlings that er blos den Willen des Geschickes.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-martin-wieland/man-blindly-works-the-will-of-fate-ger-blindlings-that-er-blos-den/)

[Christoph Martin Wieland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-martin-wieland/)

> [There are times when we can feel destiny close around us like a fist around a doorknob. Sure, we can resist. But a knob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/there-are-times-when-we-can-feel-destiny-close-around-us-like-a-fist/)

[Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/)

> [“It's morning now, and I miss the soft rasp of her voice already. Ugh. I'm in trouble, aren't I?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-shand/it-s-morning-now-and-i-miss-the-soft-rasp-of-her-voice-already-ugh-i/)

[Pat Shand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-shand/)

> [You can't choose what stays and what stays away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-welch/you-can-t-choose-what-stays-and-what-stays-away/)

[Florence Welch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-welch/)

> [“Failing to meet your true destiny is a tragic act of free will.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthon-st-maarten/failing-to-meet-your-true-destiny-is-a-tragic-act-of-free-will/)

[Anthon St. Maarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthon-st-maarten/)

> [Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. It's something quite magical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-kidman/somehow-destiny-comes-into-play-these-children-end-up-with-you-and/)

[Nicole Kidman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-kidman/)

> [“In that instant it all seemed to come clear to him- it came in a grisly flash of light, and he realized that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/in-that-instant-it-all-seemed-to-come-clear-to-him-it-came-in-a/)

[Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/)

> [“Destiny is the ordained intention God has sacredly prepared with your name on it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-s-lynch/destiny-is-the-ordained-intention-god-has-sacredly-prepared-with-your/)

[John S. Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-s-lynch/)

> [“There is no interaction without God with interaction with men”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/there-is-no-interaction-without-god-with-interaction-with-men/)

[Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/)

> [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/)

[Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/)

> [“Fate and future both are servant to the determined, for they are nothing but creation of human determination.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/fate-and-future-both-are-servant-to-the-determined-for-they-are/)

[Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/)

[Browse all 7,925 Destiny quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/destiny/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of destiny.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Mason Cooley"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-destiny/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Destiny"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-destiny/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d73/mason-cooley-92_destiny_diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-dest_3156239.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Diplomats lie with a heavy sense of destiny.” — Mason Cooley",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Mason Cooley",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Diplomats lie with a heavy sense...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-destiny/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/diplomats-lie-with-a-heavy-sense-of-destiny/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
