The FCO: Policy, people and places - Quotations on diplomacy and foreign policy

'Ambassadors are the eye and ear of States.'
Guicciardini, 1495

'There is no government on earth which divulges its affairs less than England, or is more punctually informed of those of others.'
Sagredo, Venetian Ambassador, 16th century

'An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.'
Sir Henry Wotton, 1604

'An ambassador must be liberal and magnificent, but with judgement and design, and his magnificence should be reflected in his suite. His table should be served neatly, plentifully and with taste. He should give frequent entertainments and parties to the chief personages of the Court and even to the Prince himself. A good table is the best and easiest way of keeping himself well informed. The natural effect of good eating and drinking is the inauguration of friendship and the creation of familiarity, and when people are a trifle warmed by wine they often disclose secrets of importance.'
de Callières, L'Art de négocier avec les Princes, 1716

'May the pens of the diplomats not ruin again what the people have attained with such exertions.'
von Blücher, 1813

'We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.'

'The only use of a plenipotentiary is to disobey his instructions. A clerk or messenger would do if it is necessary strictly to follow them.'
Lord Palmerston, 19th century

'There is all the difference in the world between good-natured, good-humoured effort to keep well in with your neighbours and that spirit of haughty and sullen isolation which has been dignified by the name of 'non-intervention'. We are part of the Community of Europe and we must do our duty as such.'
Lord Salisbury, 1888

'There is nothing dramatic in the success of a diplomatist. His victories are made up of a series of microscopic advantages: of a judicious suggestion here, of an opportune civility there, of a wise concession at one moment and a far sighted persistence at another; of sleepless tact, immovable calmness and patience that no folly, no provocation, no blunder can shake.'
Lord Salisbury, 19th century

'The Foreign Office and the Colonial Office are chiefly engaged in finding new markets and in defending old ones.'
Joseph Chamberlain, 1896

'Diplomacy, it is true, has been shorn of much of the importance which gave it in former times so prominent a position in the state service. The surprising progress made in the means of communication has deprived diplomats of many of the grave responsibilities with which they were formally charged. On the other hand, in later years the prevailing and increasing desire to exhaust every possible means of negotiation and have recourse to arbitration before finally resorting to war, has done much and will do more still to rehabilitate the diplomatist and will perhaps in time conduce to elevate him to a higher position of importance than he has ever yet occupied.'
Arthur Ponsonby, FO Library Memorandum, 1900

'The general character of England's foreign policy is determined by the immutable conditions of her geographical situation on the ocean flank of Europe as an island state with vast overseas colonies and dependencies whose existence and survival as an independent community are inseparably bound up with the possession of preponderant sea power.'
Sir Eyre Crowe, 1907

'The art of diplomacy, as that of water colours, has suffered much from the fascination which it exercises on the amateur.'
Sir Harold Nicolson, 20th century

'Diplomacy is to do and say The nastiest thing in the nicest way.'
Isaac Goldberg, 1930

'The policy of England takes no account of which nation it is that seeks the overlordship of Europe. It is concerned solely with whoever is the strongest or the potentially dominating tyrant. It is a law of public policy which we are following, and not a mere expedient dictated by accidental circumstances or likes or dislikes.'
Sir Winston Churchill, 20th century

'The 'Great Game' is concerned with the destinies of nations than which there can be no higher human interest. To feel that one holds these destinies in the palm of one's hand, even if only for a few brief moments, is indeed a god-like experience which makes up for years of drudgery. It is this which lifts diplomacy, compared with other professions, to the highest pinnacle of importance.'
Sir Victor Wellesley, Diplomacy in Fetters, 1944

'Foreign policy isn't something that is great and big, it's common sense and humanity as it applies to my affairs and yours.'
Ernest Bevin, 1950

'Diplomacy is not one of the easiest professions. What it calls for above all things is patience.'
Sir William Strang, 1951

'You will realize that I am speaking of the frequent suggestions that the United Kingdom should join a federation on the continent of Europe. This is something which we know, in our bones, we cannot do. We know that if we were to attempt it, we should relax the springs of our action in the Western democratic cause and in the Atlantic association which is the expression of that cause. For Britain's story and her interests lie far beyond the continent of Europe. Our thoughts move across the seas to the many communities in which our people play their part, in every corner of the world. These are our family ties. That is our life: without it we should be no more than some millions of people living on an island off the coast of Europe, in which nobody wants to take any particular interest.'
Anthony Eden, 1952

'In a world where war is everybody's tragedy and everybody's nightmare, diplomacy is everybody's business.'
Lord Strang, 1959

'We are coming to realise that foreign operations in today's world call for a total diplomacy ... American ambassadors can no longer be content with wining and dining, reporting, analysing and cautiously predicting.'
Chester B. Bowles, c. 1960

'Great Britain has lost an Empire and not yet found a role.'
Dean Acheson, 1962

'We are a world power, and a world influence, or we are nothing.'
Harold Wilson, 1965

British foreign policy is defined as 'first, the commitment to an increasingly integrated Western Europe on as wide a basis as possible, with the European Common Market as its core, and secondly a commitment to a North Atlantic Alliance under US leadership as the main instrument for the conduct of East-West relations...Other broad aims on which there is general agreement are the reduction of East-West tension, whenever circumstances in the Soviet bloc permit this without weakening the Atlantic Alliance; the sustaining of Commonwealth links in a form appropriate to contemporary requirements, including our relations with a number of small dependent territories for which the British Government will continue to be responsible; the improvement of economic conditions in the less developed countries; and the strengthening of international organisations in which an effective dialogue can take place on issues which cause conflicts between nations.'
Duncan Report 1969

'Foreign policy is what you do; diplomacy is how you do it. Of course the two get mixed up especially when a diplomat is advising on policy or a member of the Government normally engaged in policy decision takes over a diplomatic operation which seems to merit top level or summit discussion. But generally speaking the task of a government is to decide and the task of a diplomat at any level is to try to make the decision work.'
Lord Gore-Booth, With Great Truth and Respect, 1974

'Diplomacy has become more complex and its subject-matter more technical. It has lost most of its glamour.'
Sir Michael Palliser, 1975

'A British Ambassador today seldom acts, in matters of importance, without instructions from home. Yet communications work both ways; he may have more opportunity to influence those instructions than his predecessors had.'
ditto

'Diplomacy has over the millenia evolved into a marriage institution of sorts. As in matrimony, the high points, the humdrum, the ecstasies and parturitions are all part of an enduring and uninterrupted relationship, and have their rules, written und unspoken, for quarrel and for reconciliation too. With nothing but a summit diplomacy the nations risk exchanging marriage for a mere mating, an intermittent rut in which a frenzied collision of the parties briefly and single-mindedly interrupts long intervals of mutual aversion.'
Sir Geoffrey Jackson, Concorde Diplomacy, 1981

'In any country diplomacy and the press are uneasy adversaries. The diplomat believes the less said the better. The press thrives on public utterances.'
David Newsom, 20th century

'Diplomats operate through deadlock, which is the way by which two sides can test each other's determination. Even if they have egos for it few heads of government have the time to resolve stalemates, their meetings are too short and the demands of protocol too heavy.'
Henry Kissinger, 20th century

'In the Diplomatic Service the various elements - commercial, information, political and consular - support and strengthen each other. And all for one purpose: to further British interests, whether these are strategic or commercial or perhaps personal for the holiday maker mugged on his package tour. These are the reasons a strong Diplomatic Service is necessary - Britain may no longer be a global power, but it still has global interests, political and economic - and in a highly competitive world these interests have to be promoted and protected.'
Sir Geoffrey Howe, 1984

'Our destiny is in Europe, as part of the Community. That is not to say that our future lies only in Europe.'
Margaret Thatcher, Bruges, 1988

'Foreign and defence policy essentially has to be about the obtaining and management of influence.'
Lord Carrington, Reflect on Things Past, 1988

'My aims for Britain in the community can be simply stated. I want us to be where we belong. At the very heart of Europe. Working with our partners in building the future. That is a challenge we take up with enthusiasm.'
John Major, 1991

'Diplomacy is unfashionable in the world of knee-jerk reaction and the dogmatic sound bite on television.'
Douglas Hurd, 1992

'Preventive diplomacy is quicker, more helpful to peoples about to be embroiled in conflict than the most successful peace-keeping or peace-making operation which follows the outbreak of violence.'
ditto

'The function of the personal representative abroad is virtually obsolete in today's world; faxes, telexes and now face-to-face conference telephone facilities could easily be installed in place of our smug, expensive diplomats. Similarly, with foreign ministers constantly jetting around and summits taking place almost monthly, the day of the grand embassy is over. The 18th century concept of a large legation in every foreign capital has been made progressively redundant by technological advance; and if prestigious ambassadorial jobs were not expected and demanded by diplomats as the climaxes of their careers, half of the legations could be closed down tomorrow.'
Andrew Roberts, Daily Mail, 1993

'British foreign policy exists to protect and promote British interests. Despite all the changes in the world that underlying truth has not changed.'
Douglas Hurd, 1993

'The Foreign Office is a splendid Rolls Royce, whose owner keeps telling it to go faster, while cutting down on the fuel. Pride ensures that appearances are kept up: the chrome is as highly polished as ever and the exterior is kept perfect. But from time to time, although the owner needs the Rolls for professional purposes, he gets embarrassed at owning such a status symbol, administers an almighty kick to the bodywork and tells them in the pub that he is thinking of scrapping it or swapping it for a Ford Cortina.'
Ruth Dudley Edwards, True Brits, 1994

'In the world beyond parliaments, the press and think tanks, parochialism is being jettisoned; to survive, the fittest have to be international and manage change, not seek to defy.'
Malcolm Rifkind, The Sunday Times, 1995

'We live in a modern world in which nation states are interdependent. In that modern world foreign policy is not divorced from domestic policy but a central part of any political programme.'
Robin Cook, 1997

'Our foreign policy must have an ethical dimension and must support the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves.'
ditto

'Many people have no idea that the FCO is staffed by down-to-earth, unstuffy people working hard in Britain's interests ... The Diplomatic Service represents Britain abroad; I want it to represent all the communities of modern Britain today.'
ditto

Sources
In addition to the usual Dictionaries of Quotations, see British Foreign Policy, A Brief Collection of Fact and Quotation (COI, revised editions, 1961, 1971), and D. Butler and A. Sloman, British Political Facts 1900-1979 (London, 1980) which has a handy section on famous political sayings and their sources. D. Coveney and W.N. Medlicott, The Lion's Tail: an anthology of criticism and abuse (London, 1971) surveys England and the English character as seen from abroad, and is a useful quarry for speeches.