George W. Bush Quotes

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

After globalisation, one country can't destabilise another country, as the international community will not forget it.

The utter incompetence of the U.N. is literally incomprehensible.

Foreign policy is effectively the assertion of many individual countries intersecting on the global marketplace. And you have to figure out how to get your interest served in a way that meets the interests and needs of these other folks.

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

Time after time … when policy makers confronted a conflict between foreign policy and domestic interests, the diplomatic imperative prevailed.

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

Governments can expect to act multilaterally or unilaterally—but not have it both ways at the same time.

Multilateralism may be little more than a polite way of camouflaging what is in practice unilateralism with allies.

Never in all the long years of strife and struggle has a parliamentary conduct of international affairs been successful.

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

Unilateral preemption should not in any way be the model for how we conduct international relations... It brings us into very dangerous territory and it could be used and abused by any other country. We need to continue to base our security on multilateralism, and on the Security Council.

The diplomatic relations upon which our present system of international comity is based are being encountered by new forces and combinations which are fast rendering them impotent and antiquated

The United States has better relations with the countries of Asia than any of them have with each other.

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.

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.

People think that it only takes an American decision to solve this or that problem [in foreign affairs].

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.

Diplomacy can and will matter; little is inevitable in international relations.

We must reject the idea of isolationism, . But that doesn't mean we should get involved in every civil war around the world.

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.

I'm a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

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.

There are nearly 200 countries and a population of over 6 billion in today's world. International affairs should be addressed by all countries through consultations rather than monopolised by a few powers.

It's not just Iraq - it's the Atlantic partnership which is at stake.