John Kerry Quotes

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

I don’t talk to countries that exhibit bad behavior.

U. S. Foreign Policy is usually largely reactive.

Even allies don’t share every single interest that you have. That’s a law of nature in the international system. They will tell you most of what you need to know but there may be some things that they don’t tell you that you need to know in order to formulate your policy as wisely as you can.

A great nation like the United States has many and varied interests, and we need both to do business with tyrants and to engage constantly in multilateral diplomacy.

Unilateral preemption should not in any way be the model for how we conduct international relations.

I think that the president of Iran has the authority wherever which - where - wherever the national interests of the country are involved and, when it is necessary and expedient and required to speak and talk with others in order to promote the rights of its nation, that the president can take that initiative.

Foreign policy works best when force and diplomacy are used together.

Foreign policy is too important to be left up to foreign service officers.

All foreign policy is the intervention of one nation's domestic politics into another nation's domestic politics.

An International Congress [Summit]: the greatest of all Vanity Fairs …. Each Prime Minister thinks that he alone is capable of representing his country’s policy. Each Foreign Secretary thinks that the Premier knows nothing of diplomacy. Each professional ambassador thinks the same about his Foreign Secretary …. It is an orchestra of first violins.

Between countries -- regardless of whether they are democratic or authoritarian -- there will need to be an explanation, either for publics or for powerful constituencies

You don’t do foreign policy unilaterally. Foreign policy is a team sport.

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

I don’t think that we should ever apply our military power unilaterally…. If we cannot persuade like-minded, friendly nations of the wisdom of our policy, then maybe we should rethink the policy.

I think it also important that the policies of the great nations be made simple and clear, so that the chance of misunderstanding is minimized.

Foreign policy is the most constraining form of policy-making

The United Nations is a means. It is not an end for American foreign policy.

Americans must step back and realize that an effective foreign policy is very difficult to devise, and we must present a united front to make it work.

Diplomacy and coalition-building are hard work and not easy for any president.

I'm a career diplomat. I spent 30 years as a diplomat, out of which seven years as foreign minister. I've always believed in the United Nations as a centre of multilateralism and multilateral diplomacy.

You cannot treat with all the world at once.

[Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is an adherent of realpolitik. He knows that international relations are not built on the strength of unilateral demands, but on solutions that are in everybody's best interest.

As long as the problem of world reconstruction remains the center of interest for all nations, blocs having similar attitudes will form and operate even within the League itself.

Admitting, however, for the sake of argument, that I am prime and sole minister in this country, am I, therefore, prime and sole minister of all Europe? Am I answerable for the conduct of other countries as well as for that of my own?