Diplomacy Quotes and Sayings

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.
– Winston Churchill

Diplomacy is telling someone to “Go to Hell” in such a way, that they look forward to taking the trip.

Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.
– Mario Puzo

I observe and remain silent.
– Elizabeth I Tudor

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.
– Robert Frost

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
– Sun Tzu

A diplomat thinks twice before saying nothing.

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone have your way.
– Daniele Vare

Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.

He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of a diplomat.
– Robert Estabrook

Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice Doggie” until you can find a rock.
– Will Rogers

He who walks in the middle of the road gets hit from both sides.
– George P. Shultz

If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you.
– Sue Monk Kidd

Diplomacy is thinking twice before saying nothing.

Diplomacy and virtue do not make easy companions.
– Iain Pears

All war represents a failure of diplomacy.
– Tony Benn

Diplomacy is to do and say The nastiest thing in the nicest way.
– Bisaac Goldberg

When diplomacy ends, War begins.
– Adolf Hitler

A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor’s throat without having his neighbor notice it.
– Trygve Lie

The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy – give one and take ten.
– Mark Twain

Tact is the ability to step on a man’s toes without messing up the shine on his shoes.
– Harry S. Truman

Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.
– Warren W. Wiersbe

Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.
– Charles de Gaulle

You’re in America now. Our idea of diplomacy is showing up with a gun in one hand and a sandwich in the other and asking which you’d prefer.
– Jim Butcher

Diplomats were invented simply to waste time.
– David Lloyd

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.
– Will Durant

Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!
– Theodore Roosevelt

It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly.
– Tom Clancy

In the end, the work of diplomats continues even while others fight. So, it’s not necessarily true that everyone needs to march.
– David Brin

What good is a smooth tongue without sharp teeth?
– Jocelyn Murray