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Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign world. — George Washington · 1796Observe good faith and justice toward all Nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all... The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. — George Washington · 1796The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little Political connection as possible. — George Washington · 1796The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. — George Washington · 1796
You have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences. — Dwight D. Eisenhower · 1954Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against the dark. — Dwight D. Eisenhower · 1953No nation can longer be a fortress, lone and strong and safe. And any people, seeking such shelter for themselves, can now build only their own prison. — Dwight D. Eisenhower · 1957
This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait. — George H.W. Bush · 1990We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order-a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations. — George H.W. Bush · 1991What is at stake is more than one small country; it is a big idea: a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind-peace and security, freedom and the rule of law. — George H.W. Bush · 1991
The world must be made safe for democracy. — Woodrow Wilson · 1917No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation. — Woodrow Wilson · 1915A general association of nations must be formed... For the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike. — Woodrow Wilson · 1918
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1933We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other Nations, far away... We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community. — Franklin D. Roosevelt · 1945
Harry Truman2 quotes
The first half of this century has been marked by unprecedented and brutal attacks on the rights of man, and by the two most frightful wars in history. The supreme need of our time is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony. — Harry Truman · 1949Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we launched the greatest cooperative economic program in history. The purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of civilization and can contribute once more to the security and welfare of the world. — Harry Truman · 1949
As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable. — Albert Einstein · 1945
His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done whech may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. — Arthur James Balfour · 1917
The hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch. — Capt. Bart Mancuso · 1990
Excessive dealings with tyrants are not good for the security of free states. — Demosthenes · 343 BC
What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of man's ideological evolution and the universalism of Western liberal democracy. — Francis Fukuyama · 1989
Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table. — George Shultz · 1986
Outside the Kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other…God and history will remember your judgment. — Haile Selassie I · 1936
Little do they know that they meet under an empty sky from which the gods have departed. — Hans Morgenthau · 1948
We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and these interests it is our duty to follow. — Henry John Temple · 1848
A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security. — Henry Kissinger · 1994
An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country. — Henry Wotton · 1604
Diplomacy is to do and say The nastiest thing in the nicest way. — Isaac Goldberg · 1927
The attitude above all others which I feel sure is no longer valid is the arrogance of power, the tendency of great nations to equate power with virtue and major responsibilities with a universal mission. — J. William Fulbright · 1966
Ich bin ein Berliner. — John F. Kennedy · 1963
Gratitude, like love, is never a dependable international emotion. — Joseph Alsop · 1952
The history of power politics is nothing but the history of international crime and mass murder. — Karl Popper · 1945
Mark Twain1 quote
I asked Tom if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says: "Yes, the little ones does." — Mark Twain · 1894
Tolerance is the alpha and omega of a new world order. — Mikhail Gorbachev · 1990
The social progress, order, security and peace of each country are necessarily connected with the social progress, order, security and peace of all other countries. — Pope John XXIII · 1963
Robin Cook1 quote
Our foreign policy must have an ethical dimension and must support the demands of other people for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves. — Robin Cook · 1997
Whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself. — Sir Walter Raleigh · 1618
The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes. — Stanley Kubrick · 1963
Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions? — Susan Sontag · 2001
Speak softly and carry a big stick. — Theodore Roosevelt · 1900