Strategic Communication Quotes

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should be attended by a bodyguard of lies.

Don't wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

Diplomacy … means the art of nearly deceiving all your friends, but not quite deceiving all your enemies

There is a homely old adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.

What matters is not whether one talks to adversaries but what one says to them, which strategies of engagement are set in place, and how competently they are executed.

The greatest triumphs of propoganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing. Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.

Incomprehensible messaging is a very important part of Russian propaganda.

The bully pulpit is not an open microphone. You have to target it very carefully.

There are certain times you rattle the press's cages, and other times you don't, and you have to be discerning about it.

Diplomacy, is persuasion in the shadow of power.

Feeding the media is like training a dog. You can't throw an entire steak at a dog to train it to sit. You have to give it little bits of steak over and over again until it learns.

I still feel there are much smarter self-promoters out there than me. I am very methodical about my messaging, and I know how to gain attention very quickly. David Blaine is an example of someone who's better at self-promoting than me. He is much better than I am.

How does it make sense to remove an option, to tell your enemy before you go into a conflict, that you will not exercise whatever options are necessary in order to achieve victory?

When the political columnists say 'Every thinking man' they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to 'Every intelligent voter' they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.

Communication and communication strategy is not just part of the game - it is the game.

I think it's fair to say that diplomacy today requires much more of that if you're the United States of America than it did 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.

China's propaganda approach with the West is different than the one used by the Soviet Union, which used Western belligerence to maintain its control over its domestic audience. China's strategy is one of influence and inertia.

I hold it to be of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither the one nor the other in any way diminishes the strength of the enemy; but the one makes him more cautious, and the other increases his hatred of you, and makes him more persevering in his efforts to injure you

To be a good leader, you have to be a good communicator. As a leader, you have to communicate your intent every chance you get, and if you fail to do that, you will pay the consequences.

Liberals in their meetings utter bold words; they strut, grimace belligerently, and then issue a weasel-worded statement which has tremendous implications, if read between the lines.

The planned use of information targeted at specific audiences using any media available to achieve desired outcomes that primarily benefit the source

Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible.

In time of war, truth is always replaced by propaganda.

Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.