Top 30 George F. Kennan Quotes (2024 Update)

George F. Kennan Quote: “Heroism is endurance for one moment more.”

1. “Heroism is endurance for one moment more.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “War is a highly overrated tool of foreign policy.”

2. “War is a highly overrated tool of foreign policy.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.”

3. “It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “There is more respect to be won in the opinion of this world by a resolute and courageous liquidation of unsound positions than by the most stubborn pursuit of extravagant or unpromising objectives.”

4. “There is more respect to be won in the opinion of this world by a resolute and courageous liquidation of unsound positions than by the most stubborn pursuit of extravagant or unpromising objectives.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The jealous and intolerant eye of the Kremlin can distinguish, in the end, only vassals and enemies, and the neighbors of Russia, if they do not wish to be one, must reconcile themselves to being the other.”

5. “The jealous and intolerant eye of the Kremlin can distinguish, in the end, only vassals and enemies, and the neighbors of Russia, if they do not wish to be one, must reconcile themselves to being the other.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The Russian leaders are keen judges of human psychology, and as such they are highly conscious that loss of temper and of self-control is never a source of strength in political affairs.”

6. “The Russian leaders are keen judges of human psychology, and as such they are highly conscious that loss of temper and of self-control is never a source of strength in political affairs.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The nuclear bomb is the most useless weapon ever invented. It can be employed to no rational purpose. It is not even an effective defense against itself.”

7. “The nuclear bomb is the most useless weapon ever invented. It can be employed to no rational purpose. It is not even an effective defense against itself.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Not only the studying and writing of history but also the honoring of it both represent affirmations of a certain defiant faith a desperate, unreasoning faith, if you will but faith nevertheless in the endurance of this threatened world faith in the total essentiality of historical continuity.”

8. “Not only the studying and writing of history but also the honoring of it both represent affirmations of a certain defiant faith a desperate, unreasoning faith, if you will but faith nevertheless in the endurance of this threatened world faith in the total essentiality of historical continuity.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.”

9. “We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.”

10. “It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “War has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end.”

11. “War has a momentum of its own and it carries you away from all thoughtful intentions when you get into it. Today, if we went into Iraq, like the president would like us to do, you know where you begin. You never know where you are going to end.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Russia, Russia-unwashed, backward, appealing Russia, so ashamed of your own backwardness, so orientally determined to conceal it from us by clever deceit.”

12. “Russia, Russia-unwashed, backward, appealing Russia, so ashamed of your own backwardness, so orientally determined to conceal it from us by clever deceit.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The truth is sometimes a poor competitor in the market place of ideas – complicated, unsatisfying, full of dilemmas, always vulnerable to misinterpretation and abuse.”

13. “The truth is sometimes a poor competitor in the market place of ideas – complicated, unsatisfying, full of dilemmas, always vulnerable to misinterpretation and abuse.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “In the fabric of human events, one thing leads to another. Every mistake is in a sense the product of all the mistakes that have gone before it, from which fact it derives a sort of cosmic forgiveness; and at the same time every mistake is in a sense the determinant of all the mistakes of the future, from which it derives a sort of cosmic unforgiveableness.”

14. “In the fabric of human events, one thing leads to another. Every mistake is in a sense the product of all the mistakes that have gone before it, from which fact it derives a sort of cosmic forgiveness; and at the same time every mistake is in a sense the determinant of all the mistakes of the future, from which it derives a sort of cosmic unforgiveableness.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “We should not lose ourselves in vainglorious sohemes for changing human nature all over the planet. Rather, we should learn to view ourselves with a sense of proportion and Christian humility before the enormous complexity of the world in which it has been given us to live.”

15. “We should not lose ourselves in vainglorious sohemes for changing human nature all over the planet. Rather, we should learn to view ourselves with a sense of proportion and Christian humility before the enormous complexity of the world in which it has been given us to live.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “A foreign policy aimed at the achievement of total security is the one thing I can think of that is entirely capable of bringing this country to a point where it will have no security at all.”

16. “A foreign policy aimed at the achievement of total security is the one thing I can think of that is entirely capable of bringing this country to a point where it will have no security at all.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.”

17. “Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Forms of government are forged mainly in the fire of practice, not in the vacuum of theory. They respond to national character and to national realities.”

18. “Forms of government are forged mainly in the fire of practice, not in the vacuum of theory. They respond to national character and to national realities.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Do people ever reflect, one wonders, that the best way to protect against the penetration of one’s secrets by others is to have the minimum of secrets to conceal?”

19. “Do people ever reflect, one wonders, that the best way to protect against the penetration of one’s secrets by others is to have the minimum of secrets to conceal?”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “You have no idea how much it contributes to the general politeness and pleasantness of diplomacy when you have a little quiet armed force in the background.”

20. “You have no idea how much it contributes to the general politeness and pleasantness of diplomacy when you have a little quiet armed force in the background.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.”

21. “Fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalinist dictatorship.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The very concept of history implies the scholar and the reader. Without a generation of civilized people to study history, to preserve its records, to absorb its lessons and relate them to its own problems, history, too, would lose its meaning.”

22. “The very concept of history implies the scholar and the reader. Without a generation of civilized people to study history, to preserve its records, to absorb its lessons and relate them to its own problems, history, too, would lose its meaning.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Instruments of coercion, once created, have a tendency to find their own natural masters.”

23. “Instruments of coercion, once created, have a tendency to find their own natural masters.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Whenever you have a possibility of going in two ways, either for peace or for war, for peaceful methods of for military methods, in the present age there is a strong prejudice for the peaceful ones. War seldom ever leads to good results.”

24. “Whenever you have a possibility of going in two ways, either for peace or for war, for peaceful methods of for military methods, in the present age there is a strong prejudice for the peaceful ones. War seldom ever leads to good results.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The best thing we can do if we want the Russians to let us be Americans is to let the Russians be Russian.”

25. “The best thing we can do if we want the Russians to let us be Americans is to let the Russians be Russian.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Perfect discipline requires recognition of infallibility. Infallibility requires the observance of discipline.”

26. “Perfect discipline requires recognition of infallibility. Infallibility requires the observance of discipline.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “A guest of one’s time and not a member of the household.”

27. “A guest of one’s time and not a member of the household.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Public opinion, or what passes for public opinion, is not invariably a moderating force in the jungle of politics.”

28. “Public opinion, or what passes for public opinion, is not invariably a moderating force in the jungle of politics.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “This is a big world. Billions – rapidly increasing billions – of people live outside our borders. Obviously, a great number of them, being much poorer than they think most of us are, look enviously over those borders and would like, if they could, to come here.”

29. “This is a big world. Billions – rapidly increasing billions – of people live outside our borders. Obviously, a great number of them, being much poorer than they think most of us are, look enviously over those borders and would like, if they could, to come here.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Bearing all this in mind, we see that there is no Russian national understanding which would permit the early establishment in Russia of anything resembling the private enterprise system as we know it.”

30. “Bearing all this in mind, we see that there is no Russian national understanding which would permit the early establishment in Russia of anything resembling the private enterprise system as we know it.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “Above all, it behooves us to repress, and if possible to extinguish once and for all, our inveterate tendency to judge others by the extent to which they contrive to be like ourselves.”

31. “Above all, it behooves us to repress, and if possible to extinguish once and for all, our inveterate tendency to judge others by the extent to which they contrive to be like ourselves.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “A political society does not live to conduct foreign policy; it would be more correct to say that it conducts foreign policy in order to live.”

32. “A political society does not live to conduct foreign policy; it would be more correct to say that it conducts foreign policy in order to live.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The best an American can look forward to is the lonely pleasure of one who stands at long last on a chilly and inhospitable mountaintop where few have been before, where few can follow and where few will consent to believe he has been.”

33. “The best an American can look forward to is the lonely pleasure of one who stands at long last on a chilly and inhospitable mountaintop where few have been before, where few can follow and where few will consent to believe he has been.”

— George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan Quote: “The United States should not jump around like an elephant frightened by a mouse.”

34. “The United States should not jump around like an elephant frightened by a mouse.”

— George F. Kennan

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS APPLE

Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

COURAGE MOTIVATIONAL STRENGTH

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

LIFE SPIRITUALITY

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Save image...
Permalink
Open in new tab
Copy quote text

Beautiful Wallpapers and Images

We hope you enjoyed our collection of 30 free pictures with George F. Kennan Quotes.

All of the images on this page were created with QuoteFancy Studio.

Use QuoteFancy Studio to create high-quality images for your desktop backgrounds, blog posts, presentations, social media, videos, posters and more.

Thank you!

Please check your email.