Henry Kissinger: Doing

Henry Kissinger was United States Secretary of State. Explore interesting quotes on doing.
Henry Kissinger: 100   quotes 20   likes

“Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?”

Speaking in Warsaw in 2012, Kissinger said that he didn't think the saying originated with him, "I am not sure I actually said it, but it's a good statement so why not take credit for it?"
Misattributed
Source: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/kissinger-says-calling-europe-quote-not-likely-his

“Of course, over time, even two armed blind men can do enormous damage to each other, not to speak of the room.”

The White House Years (1979)
1970s
Context: The superpowers often behave like two heavily armed blind men feeling their way around a room, each believing himself in mortal peril from the other, whom he assumes to have perfect vision. Each side should know that frequently uncertainty, compromise, and incoherence are the essence of policymaking. Yet each tends to ascribe to the other a consistency, foresight, and coherence that its own experience belies. Of course, over time, even two armed blind men can do enormous damage to each other, not to speak of the room.

“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

As quoted in The Washington Post (23 December 1973); he later joked further on this remark, on 10 March 1975 saying to Turkish Foreign Minister Melih Esenbel in Ankara, Turkey:
Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." … But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.
As quoted in "Sunshine Week Document Friday! Kissinger Says, “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer. But since the FOIA, I’m afraid to say things like that.” in Unredacted : The National Security Archive, unedited and uncensored http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/document-friday-kissinger-says-the-illegal-we-do-immediately-the-unconstitutional-takes-a-little-longer-but-since-the-foia-im-afraid-to-say-things-like-that/
Included in Cable P860114-1573_MC_b http://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/P860114-1573_MC_b.html#efmCS3CUB Wikileaks
1970s

“In the 1950s and 1960s we put several thousand nuclear weapons into Europe. To be sure, we had no precise idea of what to do with them.”

Statement of 1973, as quoted in Canadian and World Politics (2005) by John Ruypers, Marion Austin, Patrick Carter, and Terry G. Murphy
1970s