Lester B. Pearson Quotes

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

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

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

If every small nation with a border dispute believes they can go ahead and launch a pre-emptive war and that it will be approved by the greatest power, that is a very dangerous thing.

NATO believes it can pick on a small nation and force us to surrender our independence. And that is where NATO miscalculated. You are not willing to sacrifice lives to achieve our surrender. But we are willing to die to defend our rights as an independent sovereign nation.

The doctrine of preemption has a long and distinguished history in the history of American foreign policy.

From 1836, down to last year, there is no proof of the Government having any confidence in the duration of peace, or possessing increased security against war.

Do we really want a world in which every country feels entitled to attack any other that might someday threaten it?

Let no one expect us to disarm unilaterally. We are not a naive people.

Governments interfere in the affairs of each other, when they conceive their own peace is endangered.

There is no issue of greater importance to the U.S. Senate than war and peace.

No nation, no matter how destitute, likes to be told how much military "security" to buy.

If the U.S. and its allies can invade a weaker country on the excuse it is abetting terrorism, then why should not India, say, launch a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan on the self-same grounds?

Lightly armed nations can move toward war just as easily as those which are armed to the teeth, and they will do so if the usual causes of war are not removed.

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 National Security Council's real role is to coordinate the various activities of the government of the United States in the furtherance of American foreign policy.

Nations, like individuals in a state of nature, are equal and independent, possessing certain rights and owing certain duties to each other.

I said it was my feeling that the American people would struggle for peace, and that has since been underscored by the President of these United States.

I am against preventive war because it means measures by the UN against us.

Whoever wants peace among nations must seek to limit the state and its influence most strictly.

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.

In almost every country there are elements of opinion which would welcome such a conclusion because they wish to return to the politics of the balance of power, unrestricted and unregulated armaments, international anarchy, and preparation for war.

That is the best Government, which best provides for war.

When a nation is surrounded by weaponized nations, she has to equip herself.

So, anything that avoids a conflict that could draw in, unhappily again, outside powers such as the United States or revisit, for example, Japan's interests in the Taiwan area would be the last thing that anyone would want.