William E. Simon Quotes

The Persian Gulf region would have zero strategic importance were it not for the oil.

Saudi Arabia is, of course, the keystone of OPEC. Saudi Arabia has had the distinction of remaining stable through all the escalating tumult of recent decades, reliably pumping out its roughly 10 million barrels a day like Bossy the cow in America's oil import barn.

As far as the Middle East and North Africa is concerned, we need to reconsider the question of reliability and stability of hydrocarbons.

Saudi Arabia is one of India's most valued strategic partners.

Saudi Arabia supplies much oil to the U.S. And it is the world's largest consumer of American weaponry.

As long as the United States - and the world - gets its oil from the Middle East, we will be drawn into the endless crises that seem endemic to the region. American energy independence would not only liberate us, it would also drive down the worldwide price of oil.

We have seen a strong increase in oil prices and up to this year we see that the world has been able to absorb that.

So, I think even in Saudi Arabia there is movement. And we have to remember that over the years they've stabilized the oil price and that is tremendously important for the economies of the world. I think we have no choice but to work with the government of Saudi Arabia.

The war and terrorism in the Middle East, the crisis of leadership in many of the oil-supply countries in the developing world, the crisis of global warming - all these are very clearly tied to energy.

China needs a powerful Europe, but Europe can only be strong if each and every one of its members attains rapid economic development.

Nothing would please me more, but who else would pump the oil that we need? God damn America.

If we don't have a more serious energy policy, the difference between a good day and bad day for America from here on will hinge on how the 86-year-old king of Saudi Arabia manages...change.

I am convinced that China needs to be a strong trading partner with the United States long term.

The U.S. now imports over half of its oil supply from the Middle East. This dangerous dependence on foreign energy sources is an issue of national security.

If the Chinese can't buy U.S. products, they'll buy them from European countries and then develop stronger economic ties with France and Germany and perhaps side more with those countries when international issues flare up.

Countries are effectively paid deference in direct and indirect ways if they're huge oil suppliers.

What do Saddam Hussein and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle have in common? Neither man wants America to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Sellers of all fuels, whatever their conflicts, can stand in harmony on the platform of high oil prices.

America is addicted to oil which is often imported from the most unstable part of the world.

American oil operations are, for all practical purposes, instruments of our foreign policy.

The key to our economic prosperity depends on increasing our contacts with Asian traders.

The world’s dependence on Gulf oil will last for at least another generation.

Instead of condemning Israel, the underdeveloped countries should take it as an example of how to build an advanced, prosperous nation.

The price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions. It’s the First Law of Petropolitics.

I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil …. Whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy