"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
— H.L. Mencken (Prejudices: First Series)

""You're in America now," I said. "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 (Turn Coat)

"
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy."
— Isaac Newton

"Diplomacy is the velvet glove that cloaks the fist of power."
— Robin Hobb

"She is opinionated, as most of us are, but you won’t find yourself impaled on her arguments; she doesn’t charge at you as some people do. What [she] does is walk slowly and steadily into a conversational battle, somehow managing to deflect all incoming targets until she is standing in your corner with her flag dug firmly into the ground. I think it comes from the deep-seated confidence she possesses in her core. I think it is the powerful combination of encouraged individualism and a strong family unit."
— Carrie Adams (The Godmother)

"Somebody must trespass on the taboos of modern nationalism, in the interests of human reason. Business can't. Diplomacy won't. It has to be people like us."
— Robert Byron (The Road to Oxiana)

"The art of diplomacy is to avoid placing yourself in a position where you can be humiliated. (Sergio Vieira de Mello)"
— Samantha Power (Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World)