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Diplomacy is more than saying or doing the right things at the right time, it is avoiding saying or doing the wrong things at any time.

I'm not always the most diplomatic person.

Well, the thing that I learned as a diplomat is that human relations ultimately make a huge difference.

My career was always about working with people, and understanding issues and problems and helping them to solve those issues and problems. How you deal with people - that's what diplomacy is all about. So while I'm not a career diplomat, many of the skills I had seemed to directly translate into the diplomatic arena.

Successful diplomacy is an alignment of objectives and means.

There is nothing fast or easy about diplomacy. I have no illusions about that.

History is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations, the skillful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom.

Diplomacy is like jazz: endless variations on a theme.

Diplomacy is fundamentally working with people, bringing people together to deal with difficult issues.

The most successful cultural diplomacy strategy integrates people-to-people or arts/culture/media-to-people interactions into the basic business of diplomacy. The programs in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iran all contribute to core goals of U.S. policy in those countries.