ALLIANCES :

Alliances, if they are to endure, require care, respect and shared advantages.

CONFERENCES, DIPLOMATS AT :

The first duty of a diplomat, after a Congress, is to take care of his liver.

CONSULS :

The powers of consular officers are infinitely varied. They are in the position of exercising throughout the extent of their district the functions of judge, arbitrator, and conciliator for their compatriots ; often, they are officers charged with vital statistics ; they carry out the tasks of notaries, and sometimes those of shipping administrator ; they survey and note health conditions. It is they who, through their regular reports, can give a true and complete idea of the state of commerce, of navigation and of the characteristic industry in which they reside.

CRISIS :

In critical situations, let women run things.

DIPLOMACY, DECEIT :

Diplomacy is “ to lie and deny. ”

DUPLICITY :

Diplomacy is not a science of art and duplicity. If good faith is necessary anywhere, it is in political transactions, for it alone can render them solid and enduring.

HISTORY :

If people always understood, they would have no history.

LIES :

It is scarcely necessary to say that no occasion, no provocation, no anxiety to rebut an unjust accusation, no idea however tempting – of promoting the object you have in view – can need, much less justify, a falsehood. Success obtained by one is a precarious and baseless success. Detection would not only ruin your reputation forever, but deeply wound the honor of your court. 1813

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, QUALITIES OF :

A sort of instinct, always prompting him, should prevent him from compromising himself in any discussion. He must have the faculty of appearing open, while remaining impenetrable ; of masking reserve with the manner of careless abandon ; of showing talent even in the choice of his amusements. His conversation should be simple, varied, unexpected, always natural and sometimes naive ; in a word, he should never cease for an instant during the twenty-four hours to be a Minister of Foreign Affairs. Yet all these qualities, rare as they are, might not suffice, if good faith did not give them the guarantee which they almost always require. 1837

MORALITY IN FOREIGN POLICY :

The only good principle is to have none.

NON-INTERVENTION :

Non-intervention is a metaphysical and political term meaning almost the same thing of intervention. 1832

OCCUPATION :

One can do everything with bayonets except sit on them.

POLITNESS:

With a smile on the lips and a brow of bronze one can get by everywhere.

STRENGH :

The strength restrains itself ; true greatness sets its own limits.