In his essay, ‘Perpetual Peace,’ the philosopher, Immanuel Kant, argued that perpetual peace would eventually come to the world in one of two ways, by human insight or by conflicts and catastrophes of a magnitude that left humanity no other choice. We are at such a juncture.
Interpretation
Kissinger reflects on the potential paths to achieving lasting peace in the world.
In this quote, Henry A. Kissinger references Immanuel Kant's notion that true and lasting peace may be achieved either through human wisdom and understanding or through severe conflicts that ultimately force humanity to change its ways. Kissinger suggests that the world may be at a crucial point where its future, especially regarding peace, hangs in the balance due to significant challenges and conflicts faced today.
In practice
In a speech about global diplomacy, one might say, 'As we navigate today's challenges, we must remember that, as Kant suggested, peace may only come through insight or through the harsh lessons of conflict.'
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The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
If peace is equated simply with the absence of war, it can become abject pacifism that turns the world over to the most ruthless.
What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify.
No experimental result can ever kill a theory: any theory can be saved from counterinstances either by some auxiliary hypothesis or by a suitable reinterpretation of its terms.
God speaks in the language you know best - not through your ears, but through your circumstances.
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?
Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.
All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim.
Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place.
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