"Americans have a tendency to believe that when there's a problem there must be a solution."

"Power without legitimacy tempts tests of strength; legitimacy without power tepmts empty posturing."

"The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small"

"Because complexity inhibits flexibility, early choices are especially crucial."

"I want to thank you for stopping the applause. It is impossible for me to look humble for any period of time."

"History is the memory of States."

"I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850."

"In Washington...the appearance of power is therefore almost as important as the reality of it. In fact, the appearance is frequently its essential reality"

"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."

"Behind the slogans lay an intellectual vacuum."

"It is one of history's ironies that Communism, advertised as a classless society, tended to breed a privileged class of feudal proportions."

"Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God"

"It is not often that nations learn from the past,even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it."

"Poor old Germany. Too big for Europe, too small for the world"

"A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security"

"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer."

"The issues are too important to be left for the voters."

"Every victory is only the price of admission to a more difficult problem"

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

"The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously."

"Don't be too ambitious. Do the most important thing you can think of doing every year and then your career will take care of itself."

"The nice thing about being a celebrity is that if you bore people they think it's their fault."

"America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests"

"Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."