Henry Cabot Lodge Quotes

A state worthy of the name has no friends—only interests. [This is a generalized expression of British Prime Minister John Henry Temple's statement a century earlier.

[Describing Russia:] ... the most realistic regime in the world—no ideals.

America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests

The politician, who measures the interests of his country by her preponderance in the scale of empire, regards all consideration of individual happiness as a weakness.

No nation has friends only interests.

Someone has said that nations have interests, they don't have friends, and you see that over and over in U.S. policy.

I don't believe in ideology in international relations.

There is no such thing as gratitude in international politics.

In power politics, it's usually not enough to be liked. A nation has to be considered essential.

There are those who would draw a sharp line between power politics and a principled foreign policy based on values. This polarized view - you are either a realist or devoted to norms and values - may be just fine in academic debate, but it is a disaster for American foreign policy. American values are universal.

Let me let you in on a little secret. There is no such thing as an international community. There are self-maximizing, self-interested states that will push their interests as far as possible.

The notion that the UN is some sort of dispassionate body that, “does right” and just pursues everybody’s best interests is a fantasy. Each individual nation will be pursuing their best interests. That’s the normal behavior of nation-states. It shouldn’t surprise us, but neither should we go to them for permission to do what’s in our national interests.

I have always thought that foreign-policy idealism has to be tempered with realism.

Pundits are used to analyzing the gap between what our ideals suggest and what our security interests require.

The predominant yardstick of your government is not human rights but national interests.

Everybody pursues their national interests. The only one who gets blamed for it is the United States.

Foreign policy is really domestic policy with its hat on.

America is exceptional in combining standard great-power realism with extravagant idealism about the country's redemptive role in creating international order.

In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli.

All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.

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.

… realpolitik

Our foreign policy has been inspired by two simple principles: the determination to place France's interests above all others, and the conviction that France has no greater interest than that of peace.

The pursuit of one's own interest seems to be the rule for international relations, without the common good of humanity being taken into consideration.

I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.