Dean Acheson Quotes

Like apples in a barrel infected by one rotten one, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all to the east. It would also carry infection to Africa through Asia Minor and Egypt, and to Europe through Italy and France, already threatened by the strongest domestic Communist parties in Western Europe. The Soviet Union was playing one of the greatest gambles in history at minimal cost. It did not need to will all the possibilities. Even one or two offered immense gains. We and we alone were in a position to break up the play.

Any nation which claims that this [North Atlantic] treaty is directed against it should be reminded of the Biblical admonition that 'The guilty flee when no man pursueth.

Charm never made a rooster.

Greatness is a quality of character and is not the result of circumstances.

Brains are no substitute for judgement.

No man comes out of his own memorandum of conversation looking second best.

I doubt very much if a man whose main literary interests were in works by Mr. Zane Grey, admirable as they may be, is particularly equipped to be the chief executive of this country, particularly where Indian Affairs are concerned.

We have actively sought and are actively seeking to make the United Nations an effective instrument of international cooperation.

Between 9 and 10 AM the American radio is concerned almost exclusively with love. It seems a little like ending breakfast with a stiff bourbon.

Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.

I have almost invariably found that charm is used as a substitute for intelligence in persons of both sexes. Thus, I have always been and will remain wary of it.

Vietnam was worse than immoral - it was a mistake.

Entwined with the strand of conservatism in the Democratic party is the strand of empiricism.

The limitations imposed by democratic political practices makes it difficult to conduct our foreign affairs in the national interest.

I have a curious and apprehensive feeling as I watch JFK that he is sort of an Indian snake charmer.

Washington is like a self-sealing tank on a military aircraft. When a bullet passes through, it closes up.

How could the USA champion individual freedom in the world generally while denying it to an important minority in its own country.

I think Churchill is right, the only thing to be said for democracy is that there is nothing else that's any better, and therefore he used to say, Tyranny tempered by assassination, but lots of assassination. People say, If the Congress were more representative of the people it would be better. I say the Congress is too damn representative. It's just as stupid as the people are; just as uneducated, just as dumb, just as selfish.

The trouble with a free market economy is that it requires so many policemen to make it work.

The defensive perimeter [of the United States in East Asia] runs along the Aleutians to Japan and then goes to the Ryukyus.

The greatest mistake I made was not to die in office.

The most important aspect of the relationship between the president and the secretary of state is that they both understand who is president.

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.

The manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured.

The future comes one day at a time [so don't fear and try to solve all the worries and problems of the future today].

If we learn the art of yielding what must be yielded to the changing present, we can save the best of the past.

Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

With a nation, as with a boxer, one of the greatest assurances of safety is to add reach to power.

I will undoubtedly have to seek what is happily known as gainful employment, which I am glad to say does not describe holding public office.

You can't argue with a river, it isgoing to flow.You can dam it up?put it to useful purposes?deflect it, but you can't argue with it.

[President Truman] was free of the greatest vice in a leader, his ego never came between him and his job.