Henry Kissinger

Moderation is a virtue only in those who are thought to have an alternative.

History knows no resting places and no plateaus.

The real distinction is between those who adapt their purposes to reality and those who seek to mold reality in the light of their purposes.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
Henry Kissinger - Years of Upheaval
A crisis does not always appear to a policymaker as a series of dramatic events. Usually it imposes itself as an exhausting agenda of petty chores demanding both concentration and endurance.

No one will ever win the battle of the sexes, because there is too much fraternizing with the enemy.

Power is the great aphrodisiac.
Henry Kissinger - New York Times, Oct. 28, 1973
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Henry Kissinger - Wilson Library Bulletin, March 1979
Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

- Henry Kissinger