Condoleezza Rice Quotes

The international community lies at the center of the Obama foreign policy. Unfortunately, it is a fiction. There is no such thing. Different countries have different histories, geographies, necessities, and interests. There's no natural, inherent, or enduring international community.

It is the natural desire of each nation to use the other as an instrument of its own purposes and policies. By dint of our mutual dependence, your influence is amplified by our power. Our power is made more responsible and more effective by your influence.

I think the Sino-American relationship is the most important geo-strategic question facing us.

Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests.

In international relations, in foreign policy, a great deal has to do with historical circumstances, a great deal has to do with the sense and perception of people.

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.

One of the things the United States does well is building coalitions. What the U.S. knows is that if you don't have a coalition with you, you will have a coalition against you. I don't want to see China and Russia on the side of Iran more strongly than they are.

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

Today's global landscape is increasingly interconnected. China and the Middle East play critical roles towards international peace and security.

Foreign policy is about choosing from nasty options.

The purpose of foreign policy is not to provide an outlet for our own sentiments of hope or indignation; it is to shape real events in a real world.

The management of a balance of power is a permanent undertaking, not an exertion that has a foreseeable end.

Today we will find most nations to be both our partners and our adversaries—sometimes simultaneously.

Foreign policy should be strategic, not tactical.

You should never make alliances with a decadent nation like France and a semi-barbarous nation like Russia

Political and security realities have reduced the scope of American unilateralism.

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.

Both Russia and the United States are struggling to define their proper roles in the world.

Often, foreign policy - which, by definition, is largely out of American control - is simply a matter of not doing the wrong thing, the unwise thing.

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

Working with Russia, we worked with Iran. Are they our friends? You have to take each situation uniquely.

I'm in favour of a multi-polar world. I believe that every country has the right to defend its own interests.

I do not see it as desirable for South Korea to take the back seat and watch discussions between the U.S. and China.

Foreign policy must be about priorities. The United States cannot do everything everywhere.

China is ruthlessly pragmatic. It supports North Korea for its own selfish interests. And I believe that China no longer considers us an ally. The current president, Xi Jinping, cultivates close relations with South Korea. He has never met with me, the leader of North Korea, something that the leader of China has always done. At the grand celebrations in Beijing two years ago commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, he placed the president of Russia and the president of South Korea at his side. In North Korea, we pay a lot of attention to ceremonies and what they signal.