I used to wish there was a useful term for those of us who thought American power should be used to remove psychopathic dictators.

Unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. In this world, fear has no place. Only strength respects strength.

When George W. Bush came into office, North Korea had maybe one nuclear weapon and verifiably wasn’t producing any more.

The notion that it is improper to look beyond the borders of the United States in grappling with hard questions has a certain kinship to the view that the U.S. Constitution is a document essentially frozen in time as of the date of its ratification.

I think, under President Obama, who was a really bright guy – I didn’t agree with a lot of his politics – but we got to the point internationally where our friends didn’t trust us. They were confused. And our enemies didn’t quite respect us.

When Brexiters told the public that people were exaggerating, that there would be a financial meltdown, I think it’s been proven that they were not exaggerating.

It is my view that we cannot conduct foreign policy at the extremes.

Japan is an important ally of ours. Japan and the United States of the Western industrialized capacity, 60 percent of the GNP, two countries. That’s a statement in and of itself.

Clinton himself acted in ways which increased the threat of terror.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

I do not believe we will have a war with Iran.

People are finding it harder and harder to relate to foreign policy.

Saddam’s goal is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed.

We should pass the U.N.’s Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. At least it will clearly establish whom you view as a terrorist and whom you don’t. We need to delink terrorism from religion – to isolate terrorists who use this interchange of arguments between terrorism and religion.

In Romania, American forces have found a devoted NATO ally.

No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.

I’m lucky that, despite all the bad press I’ve had over the years, the public still seems to like me.

There’s a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.

Nowhere is it written that there must be conflict between the United States and China.

NATO was constructed on the – with the reason, whether one believes it or not, that it was going to defend Western Europe from Russian assault. Once the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was beginning to collapse, that reason was gone. So, first question: why does NATO exist?

The United States is supplying the most modern and sophisticated weaponry to Israel to the tune of billions of dollars every year.

Saudi Arabia has allowed training on its soil of American forces.

The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.

Most foreign policies that history has marked highly, in whatever country, have been originated by leaders who were opposed by experts.

Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.

A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it’s not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It’s more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together.

I think the American people, with some justification, think that most politicians live in la-la land.

Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under a McCain administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

For a sitting U.S. president to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts.

There’s backlash about everything I do.

There are nuclear-weapons-free zones in several parts of the world already, except that they’re not implemented fully, because the U.S. won’t allow it.

There ought to be one day – just one – when there is open season on senators.

More understand China, then more people will have interest in China and more people will come to China to visit us because I am a tourist ambassador.

Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States – old as well as new – North as well as South.

Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes… can no longer be of concern to great powers alone.

I don’t see the wisdom in modern politicians that I once saw in men like Dean Acheson, David Bruce, or George Marshall. In my day, the northeastern establishment dominated foreign policy formulation, but the composition and distribution of our population is very different today.

There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.

I heard that when Christina Aguilera went back to her prom, people, like, booed her. I can’t imagine going through that. If you know that’s going to happen, why put yourself in that situation? I’d rather play for 20,000 screaming people, you know?

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

Everybody has forgotten that Russia helped start the Second World War.

The Russians feared Ike. They didn’t fear me.

Law is always better than war.

Every country when they have Olympics, a lot of people come out opposed.

I think it is important for Europe to understand that even though I am president and George Bush is not president, Al Qaeda is still a threat.

My constant prayer, my number one foreign goal, is to bring peace to Israel. And in the process to Israel’s neighbours.

I have spoken to Chinese leaders occasionally on human rights, but I’ve always done it in private.

I think, in politics, half the people are gonna like you, and half the people are not gonna like you, no matter what you do or what you say… It’s like there are no right answers. If there were, everyone would choose the right answers. They’re all opinions.

A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible – and no one can now doubt the word of America.

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.

A war is a horrible thing, but it’s also a unifier of countries.

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it… You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.

We are moving towards a world that is reordering itself and that may appear more ordered at some periods of time, but I see no sign that we are moving towards a world order in my definition of it – namely, a system which is accepted, which is internalized by the majority of the key participants.

When I was 18, I went to the Soviet Union. I kept hearing that America was planning to bomb them – lots of bombs were going to come down on these people. I went there not knowing anything, except that I thought the whole thing was stupid and that I wanted to see who these people were that we were going to bomb.

I don’t think that experience is a very useful or convincing attribute for a sensible foreign policy. Henry Kissinger had a lot of experience.

The many questions about the bombing of Yugoslavia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – meaning primarily the United States – come down to two fundamental issues: ‚What are the accepted and applicable ‚rules of world order,‘ and how do these apply in the case of Kosovo?‘

The public doesn’t mind people living together without being married, providing they don’t overdo it.

A war with Pakistan would be an utter disaster.

Russia isn’t going to start a war. They can’t afford it. I think Mr. Putin can be dealt with if we stop screaming at him. You can work with the guy. You just have to know who he is.