Diplomacy is like jazz: endless variations on a theme.

As countries grapple with modernization, people who are left behind tend to hold firmer and firmer to their view of the evil of modernity.

The controlled chaos is one way to get creativity. The intensity of it, the physical rush, the intimacy created the kind of dialogue that leads to synergy...

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

Know something about something. Don’t just present your wonderful self to the world. Constantly amass knowledge and offer it around.

Bureaucracies have a natural tendency not to cooperate, coordinate or consolidate with each other. They won't cooperate with each other - unless they are forced to do so by political level authority.

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

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

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 not linear.

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

I still believe in the possibility of the United States, with all its will and all its strength, and I don't just mean military, persevering against any challenge. I still believe in that.

Morning tide makes a great companion when you don't want to be around people. It soothes and comforts and doesn't ask for anything.

Wisdom is the ability to take two opposite facts and make sense from both of the them

Mighty waves of oceans live in my soul to encourage me to survive.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

Neither blame or praise yourself.

Ah! si l'on o" tait les chime' res aux hommes, quel plaisir leur resterait? Oh! If man were robbed of his fantasies, what pleasure would be left him?

You stand on the edge of eternity, with a vista that is so incredible, so powerful, so perfect that it's overwhelming. You are so overwhelmed - you no longer exist.

If you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe.

At the age of thirty-five, I have just begun to become the kind of person who could understand the kind of book I would want to write.

I love the role of Ripley.