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Vietnam was worse than immoral — it was a mistake.

— Dean Acheson

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Failure

More quotes by Dean Acheson

How could the USA champion individual freedom in the world generally while denying it to an important minority in its own country.

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

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull. This is not always easy to achieve.

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.

Acheson "never for one moment believed that the holding of office was a source of power – it was an obligation of service."

Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (1969)

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It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

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It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

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A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible.

George Orwell The Prevention of Literature (1946)

Imagination is a force that can actually manifest a reality.

James Cameron

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Dean Acheson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.