Quotes by Dean Acheson

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.

— Dean Acheson

Hope

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.

— Dean Acheson

Hope

No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.

— Dean Acheson

Freedom

Controversial proposals, once accepted, soon become hallowed.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

The great corrupter of public man is the ego. Looking at the mirror distracts one's attention from the problem.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

The manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

The most important aspect of the relationship between the president and the secretary of state is that they both understand who is president.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

I will undoubtedly have to seek what is happily known as gainful employment, which I am glad to say does not describe holding public office.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

Negotiation in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

We have actively sought and are actively seeking to make the United Nations an effective instrument of international cooperation.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

If we learn the art of yielding what must be yielded to the changing present, we can save the best of the past.

— Dean Acheson

Education

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

Washington is like a self-sealing tank on a military aircraft. When a bullet passes through, it closes up.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

I learned from the example of my father that the manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured.

— Dean Acheson

Education

The greatest mistake I made was not to die in office.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom

It is worse than immoral, it's a mistake.

— Dean Acheson

Wisdom