Richard N. Haass Quotes

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

Obama's foreign policy is strangely self-centered, focused on himself and the United States rather than on the conduct and needs of the nations the United States allies with, engages with, or must confront.

Our foreign policy needs to support our energy, economic, defense and domestic policies. It all falls within the arch of national interest. There will be windows of opportunity, but they will open and close quickly.

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.

The American people deserve an honest assessment of the state of our foreign affairs.

America needs a bipartisan foreign policy that is predictable, pragmatic, and understandable.

We believe that government in Britain should be working to restore our reputation on the international stage after Iraq and engage better within Europe.

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.

Bill Clinton's foreign policy experience stems mainly from having breakfast at the International House of Pancakes.

An increasingly multipolar world requires an entirely different kind of U.S. foreign policy: far from being unilateralist, it necessitates a complex form of power-sharing on both a global and regional basis.

The principles that should guide American foreign policy are simple: the world is safer when America leads, only strength ensures peace and freedom, and America must stand with its allies and challenge its adversaries.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great sadness that I announce that I will resign as Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs. I am sad because I love this job. I'm totally dedicated to the work that we are doing in Australia's name around the world, and I believe that we have achieved many good results for Australia, and I'm proud of them.

Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home.

The real danger to Britain is a foreign policy that is isolationist in Europe and therefore weak in the rest of the world.

Kneejerk interventionism or kneejerk isolationism is the wrong course for Britain.

My view of foreign policy is that we need to be careful and circumspect about United States intervention in any foreign nation.

It is like our foreign policy has attention deficit disorder.

Americans understand that our security is enhanced when the United States is trusted and respected in the world.

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.

Foreign Policy has to be less foreign.

The United States may have to abandon its policy of avoiding entangling alliances.

Public diplomacy, practiced in harmony with traditional diplomacy, will enable us to advance our interest, to protect our security, and to continue to provide the moral basis for our leadership in the world.

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.

When it comes to foreign policy, the American people will ultimately reward not the party with the most ambitious vision but the party with the most sober and realistic one.