A turbulent history has taught Chinese leaders that not every problem has a solution and that too great an emphasis on total mastery over specific events could upset the harmony of the universe.

Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

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

It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.

The Vietnam War required us to emphasize the national interest rather than abstract principles. What President Nixon and I tried to do was unnatural. And that is why we didn't make it.

Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.

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

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.

The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

My own rule is to let everything alone.

Pride is ugly. It says, 'If you succeed, I am a failure.'

Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.

I should have known the power-hungry slave drivers at River's Edge would see my five days of freedom only as a challenge to be filled.

We need some honesty and sincerity instead of corrupt government in Washington.

Punctuation is a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling.

Life is the power that's greater than I can ever comprehend.

Mass incarceration is the most pressing racial justice issue of our time.

The Democrats have always been known as the party that's negative and look at everything wrong.

Characteristics which define beauty are wholeness, harmony and radiance.