May 2008

Notable and Quotable: Henry Kissinger

Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli was born May 3, 1469; German-born diplomat and academic Henry Kissinger, who has been described as the 20th century's Machiavelli, was born May 27, 1923. Machiavelli wrote The Prince and advised rulers that "it is better to be feared than loved." Kissinger, who exercised realpolitik from the Nixon White House, told The New York Times, "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." Machiavelli isn't quoted in the Unabridged (he wrote in Italian), but Kissinger's words are used to illustrate five different nouns.

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ballpark noun
"the views of the two sides are being brought closer. . . . We are in the same general ballpark"

conservative noun
"it is the task of the conservative not to defeat but to forestall revolutions"

corollary noun
"only after the physical impossibility of the revolutionary goals had been demonstrated did its political corollary find acceptance"

disquiet noun
"even in less . . . hostile hands, the capacity for a surprise attack with fusion weapons would be a source of disquiet"

disquisition noun
"pedantic disquisitions about the nature of his conservatism"


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