George H. W. Bush Quotes

The crises in North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, show how quickly things can change and how they can go wrong. We must be prepared. And right now the Army is not.

When we see a lack of leadership coming from the White House, that's what brings leaders in Turkey to attack Israel the way they do. When we see a lack of leadership coming from the White House, that's why we see the leader of Iran... continuing to build the nuclear reactors.

This president failed so miserably in diplomacy that we are now forced to war.

I could have been very popular if I had launched a military attack on Iran but I chose patience.

Neoconservatives believe that we can only be defined by having an enemy.

There are two things that are very expensive in international relations: promises when they succeed and threats when they fail

Soft power … cannot accomplish much in the absence of a willingness to use hard power.

Politics is the womb in which war develops.”

A lot of Americans think we need to stand stronger. I don't disagree with that. But that doesn't mean you go picking fights with countries all around the world. That's not the way to be a stronger, more secure America.

The potential for regional conflict in the absence of an internationally active America is real.

You just hope that we haven't soured an entire generation on the necessity, from time to time, of using force because Iraq has been such a debacle. That would be tragic because Iran is a grave threat.

I don't think a country needs to bypass diplomacy, they don't need to attack us under the radar.

By God, we will make the fire eat up half of Isreal if it tries to do anything against Iraq.

Any jackass can talk about bombing Iran.

Kennedy was trying to keep us out of war. I was trying to help him keep us out of war. And General Curtis LeMay, whom I served under as a matter of fact in World War II, was saying "Let's go in, let's totally destroy Cuba."

Many Europeans are concerned that stronger sanctions are a slippery slope toward war unless the U.S. is at the table.

Maybe we ought to consider a Golden Rule in foreign policy: Don't do to other nations what we don't want happening to us. We endlessly bomb these countries and then we wonder why they get upset with us?

Too often in Washington we tend to see foreign policy as an abstraction, with little understanding of what we are committing our country to: the complications and consequences of endeavors.

What I've learned, and will try to remember from now on, is that defending your country's credibility is never sufficient reason to fight a war.

I remain committed to a balanced policy, which will protect our national interests both on our eastern border - I mean with Russia - and of course with the European Union.

I have spent time discussing the American political system and current events in Taiwan with the junior diplomats, and they have repeatedly expressed their country's desire to avoid confrontation with China.

American presidents always avoid shaking hands with brutal dictators, except when it's advantageous to do so.

First, we could have defied both of them and could have gone to war against both of these nations for this violation of international law and interference with our neutral rights.

American presence is, you know, the major cause of balance of power and the stability in this region.

Enemies are necessary for the wheels of the U.S. military machine to turn.