Dean Acheson quotes - page 3

I did not share President's view on the Palestine solution...The number that could be absorbed by Arab Palestine without creating a grave political problem would be inadequate, and to transform the country into a Jewish state capable of receiving a million or more immigrants would vastly exacerbate the political problem and imperil not only American but all Western influence in the Near East. (Dean Acheson)
Throughout the Near East lay rare tinder for anti-Western propaganda: a Moslem culture and history, bitter Arab nationalism galled by Jewish immigration under British protection and with massive American financial support, the remnants of a colonial status, and a sense of grievance that a vast natural resource was being extracted by foreigners under arrangements thought unfair to those living on the surface. This tinder could be, and was, lighted everywhere... View quote
Dean Acheson
The conclusion was...unpalatable to believers in American omnipotence, to whom every goal unattained is explicable only by incompetence or treason. View quote
Dean Acheson
The trouble with a free market economy is that it requires so many policemen to make it work. View quote
Dean Acheson
The greatest mistake I made was not to die in office. View quote
Dean Acheson
Controversial proposals, once accepted, soon become hallowed. View quote
Dean Acheson
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. View quote
Dean Acheson
Washington is like a self-sealing tank on a military aircraft. When a bullet passes through, it closes up. View quote
Dean Acheson
The manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured. View quote
Dean Acheson
The great corrupter of public man is the ego. Looking at the mirror distracts one's attention from the problem. View quote
Dean Acheson