“Don't think that I underrate the very great debt we owe to the old diplomacy. Before the new system came into existence, diplomacy was the only protection we had against war; and its achievements were of the utmost importance and value to the human race. But perhaps it is natural that, with rare exceptions, the whole strength of this very powerful organization has been against the new ideas and new principles at Geneva. The old diplomat liked to move with deliberation, in secret, following well-established traditions and working through what he loved to describe as "the usual channels". To him, the open debate carried on, not by professional diplomats, but by politicians and statesmen having little regard for the use of the technical phraseology of diplomacy and intent merely on reaching results which would make diplomacy unnecessary, was offensive to all his instincts.”

The Future of Civilization (1938)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Don't think that I underrate the very great debt we owe to the old diplomacy. Before the new system came into existence…" by Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood?
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood photo
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood 30
lawyer, politician and diplomat in the United Kingdom 1864–1958

Related quotes

Franz Marc photo
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood photo
Rose Wilder Lane photo
Arnold Toynbee photo
Boutros Boutros-Ghali photo
Adolf Hitler photo
Newton Lee photo
Frank Zappa photo

“I like to watch the news, because I don't like people very much and when you watch the news… if you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you're right.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

Appearance on Thicke of the Night (28 April 1984).

Sri Aurobindo photo

“We have to create strength where it did not exist before; we have to change our natures, and become new men with new hearts, to be born again …”

Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet

Bhawani Mandir, 1905
India's Rebirth
Context: We have to create strength where it did not exist before; we have to change our natures, and become new men with new hearts, to be born again... We need a nucleus of men in whom the Shakti is developed to its uttermost extent, in whom it fills every corner of the personality and overflows to fertilise the earth. These, having the fire of Bhawani in their hearts and brains, will go forth and carry the flame to every nook and cranny of our land.

“The story of business leaders enlisting clergymen in their war against the New Deal is one that has been largely obscured by the very ideology that resulted from it.”

Kevin M. Kruse (1972) American historian

Source: One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (2015), p. 292

Related topics