John Adams Quotes

In these days of intimate relations, of economic stress and of intense desire to protect national interests and advance national opportunity, the treatment of questions which, from a legal standpoint, are domestic, often seriously affects international relations. The principle, each nation for itself to the full extent of its powers, is the principle of war, not of peace.

The time has come to recognize that the U.S. will continue to exercise unprecedented power in a world where international rules are still unreliable and where security and advancing of the free democratic order still depend significantly on the possession and use of military might.

Moreover, if the territorial state is to continue as the last word in the development of society, then war is inevitable.

Every nation whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of its wiser neighbors.

World politics is not a kindergarten.

As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable.

Every nation reserves the right to go to war with every other nation. Therefore, every ethnic group wants to be a nation.

Would it not be worthwhile to pause a moment before we commit ourselves to war at the pleasure of other nations in whose councils we shall have but one vote?

The Algerines, in particular, would never acknowledge the flag of the United States, unless it were made for their interests to do so.

I should drag in the United States.

If this phrase of “the balance of power” is to be always an argument for war, the pretext for war will never be wanting …

All nations want peace, but they want a peace that suits them.

Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.

Like other countries in the world, China must uphold its own sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests. At the same time, we are willing to properly handle differences and disagreements in state-to-state relations.

The amount of military force necessary to provide reassurance depends on how dangerous people think the world is. And that I think ultimately depends upon the kinds of government that hold sway in major countries.

But they were going to war anyway and they were going to bully and pressure countries to vote for it.

In international relations, in foreign policy, a great deal has to do with historical circumstances, a great deal has to do with the sense and perception of people.

Foreign policy is really domestic policy with its hat on.

President Obama, like every other leader on Earth, is still going to be looking out for national and economic interests. States don't cease to be states overnight just because they get a great visionary as their new president.

A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.

Foreign policy - dealing as it does with the most charged political subjects of all, the safety and dignity of the nation - will always be political terrain particularly vulnerable to distortion and demagoguery.

What a country calls its vital... interests are not things that help its people live, but things that help it make war.

Poor Wilson did not understand that a frontier which is not defended with bayonets, force and honor cannot be secured by any other principle.

Every government is in some respects a problem for every other government.

To Perpetual Peace