When a diplomat says yes he means perhaps; when he says perhaps he means no; when he says no he is no diplomat. - Unknown
The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy - give one and take ten - Mark Twain
Diplomacy means the art of nearly deceiving all your friends, but not quite deceiving all your enemies. - Kofi Busia
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. - Caskie Stinnett
A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat without having his neighbor notice it. - Trygve Lie
To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy. - Will Durant
Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness. - Otto von Bismarck
Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way. - Isaac Goldberg
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. - Robert Frost
Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way. - Daniele Vare
Diplomacy: The business of handling a porcupine without disturbing the quills. - Unknown
All war represents a failure of diplomacy - Tony Benn
Diplomacy is a disguised war, in which states seek to gain by barter and intrigue, by the cleverness of arts, the objectives which they would have to gain more clumsily by means of war. - Randolph Bourne
Diplomacy: The art of saying "nice doggie" until you can find a rock. - Wynn Catlin
Diplomacy - The art of letting other people achieve your ends - Unknown
DIPLOMACY - the patriotic art of lying for one's country. - Ambrose Bierce
There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished. - John Kenneth Galbraith
ULTIMATUM - In diplomacy, a last demand before resorting to concessions. - Ambrose Bierce
In archaeology you uncover the unknown. In diplomacy you cover the known. - Thomas Pickering
Ambassadors are the eye and ear of States. - Guicciardini
An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country. - Sir Henry Wotton
'We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.' - Lord Palmerston
There is nothing dramatic in the success of a diplomat. His victories are made up of a series of microscopic advantages: of a judicious suggestion here, of an opportune civility there, of a wise concession at one moment and a far sighted persistence at another; of sleepless tact, immovable calmness and patience that no folly, no provocation, no blunder can shake. - Lord Salisbury
The art of diplomacy, as that of water colours, has suffered much from the fascination which it exercises on the amateur. - Sir Harold Nicolson
The 'Great Game' is concerned with the destinies of nations than which there can be no higher human interest. To feel that one holds these destinies in the palm of one's hand, even if only for a few brief moments, is indeed a god-like experience which makes up for years of drudgery. It is this which lifts diplomacy, compared with other professions, to the highest pinnacle of importance. - Sir Victor Wellesley, Diplomacy in Fetters
Foreign policy isn't something that is great and big, it's common sense and humanity as it applies to my affairs and yours. - Ernest Bevin
Diplomacy is not one of the easiest professions. What it calls for above all things is patience. - Sir William Strang
In a world where war is everybody's tragedy and everybody's nightmare, diplomacy is everybody's business. - Lord Strang
We are coming to realise that foreign operations in today's world call for a total diplomacy ... Ambassadors can no longer be content with wining and dining, reporting, analysing and cautiously predicting. - Chester B. Bowles
Foreign policy is what you do; diplomacy is how you do it. Of course the two get mixed up especially when a diplomat is advising on policy or a member of the Government normally engaged in policy decision takes over a diplomatic operation which seems to merit top level or summit discussion. But generally speaking the task of a government is to decide and the task of a diplomat at any level is to try to make the decision work. - Lord Gore-Booth
Diplomacy has become more complex and its subject-matter more technical. It has lost most of its glamour. - Sir Michael Palliser
An Ambassador today seldom acts, in matters of importance, without instructions from home. Yet communications work both ways; he may have more opportunity to influence those instructions than his predecessors had. - Sir Michael Palliser
In any country diplomacy and the press are uneasy adversaries. The diplomat believes the less said the better. The press thrives on public utterances. - David Newsom
Diplomats operate through deadlock, which is the way by which two sides can test each other's determination. Even if they have egos for it few heads of government have the time to resolve stalemates, their meetings are too short and the demands of protocol too heavy. - Henry Kissinger
Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television. - Douglas Hurd
'Preventive diplomacy is quicker, more helpful to peoples about to be embroiled in conflict than the most successful peace-keeping or peace-making operation which follows the outbreak of violence. - Douglas Hurd
The Foreign Office is a splendid Rolls Royce, whose owner keeps telling it to go faster, while cutting down on the fuel. Pride ensures that appearances are kept up: the chrome is as highly polished as ever and the exterior is kept perfect. But from time to time, although the owner needs the Rolls for professional purposes, he gets embarrassed at owning such a status symbol, administers an almighty kick to the bodywork and tells them in the pub that he is thinking of scrapping it or swapping it for a Ford Cortina. - Ruth Dudley Edwards
We live in a modern world in which nation states are interdependent. In that modern world foreign policy is not divorced from domestic policy but a central part of any political programme. - Robin Cook
'Our foreign policy must have an ethical dimension and must support the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves. - Robin Cook