I am a big fan of quotes, in the strong belief that brevity is indeed the soul of wit. Today are a few maxims from Henry Kissinger; former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. The man has been involved in a lot of both positive and negative things and, agree or disagree with him, he is an intelligent man.

China, Argentina, Chile, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India/Pakistan, Israel/Egypt. You name the country; chances are Kissinger has at some point been involved with them in some capacity. However, regardless of the negatives (and not excluding the positives), I believe that ideas can be separated from the person who uttered them, just as some of the best art comes from some of the most despicable people.

So with that said, I leave you with these.

“No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.”

“University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.”

“Any fact that needs to be disclosed should be put out now or as quickly as possible, because otherwise the bleeding will not end.”

“Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.”

“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

And he would know.

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

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