Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

And I think people who sort of glibly say, 'Well, you know, they're not going to handle security, UAE is a great ally,' four and a half years ago, they were not an ally, they were working with the enemy, and if those same people are still there today that were there then, these are real serious issues.

The best way to influence our enemies is to stand steadfastly by our friends.

Multinational unions are created in a search for more power. This leads either to irresponsible warfare as a result of meddling in foreign affairs, or to irresponsible alliances.

Better make a weak man your enemy than your friend.

If you want to treat China as an enemy, you have a much better chance of making them an enemy than if you treat them as a potential friend.

The United States has got to adopt a policy of befriending and creating allies around the world.

A strong foe is better than a weak friend.

Certainly, the Bush Administration will rely in the first instance on its friends, since it would be both illogical and counterproductive to reward its adversaries.

It was not that the Americans lacked the capacity to force their allies into line… What is surprising is how rarely this happened…

Trust between allies is as important as deterrence of foes.

Cooperation requires a certain degree of trust between states. The threshold of trust required for cooperation depends on a set of variables including a state's relative power and costs of conflict…. conflict between trustworthy states is possible, when we see conflict it is a sign that one or both of the states are likely to be untrustworthy.

I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war.

Alliances do have to deal with political realities.

It’s important to be friends with people when you don’t need each other, so that when you do, there’s a strong bond of friendship.

I like to stand up to the Americans. It’s popular, but you have to be very careful because they’re our friends.

If Hitler invaded Hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.

Tell your King what good I have done for him in holding the crown on his head since he was born.

Entangling alliances have been considered worse than original sin since George Washington.

Anyone Who throws their lot in with the United States has to be taken care of. Loyalty works both ways… It’s a matter of morality.

Today we will find most nations to be both our partners and our adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.

We had to avoid wounding Austria too severely; we had to avoid leaving behind in her any unnecessary bitterness of feeling or desire for revenge; we ought rather to reserve the possibility of becoming friends again with our adversary of the moment, and in any case to regard the Austrian state as a piece on the European chessboard and the renewal of friendly relations as a move open to us. If Austria were severely injured, she would become the ally of France and of every other opponent of ours; she would even sacrifice her anti-Russian interests for the sake of revenge on Prussia.

[To Americans] diplomacy means all the wicked devices of the Old World, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and, during the interwar period, appeasement of Fascism.

No better friend, no worse enemy

It is more possible that a good Christian should form an alliance with the devil than I with England.

It was relatively easy, we now realize, to categorize countries and nations. You knew who your enemies were and whom you could count on as collaborators and friends. And even more importantly, you had ready-made scapegoats to take the blame when things were going wrong.