George Osborne Quotes

The bloke who ends up sitting in the White House partially controls what we [the British] get up to.

The president sets the tone. He creates the atmosphere, and that can be enlightened, progressive, or it can be intimidating, depending on what the president's agenda is. I think the other dimension of this that I worry about is impacts overseas with friends and allies, many of whom are very, very concerned about America's position in the world and whether or not it's going to continue its leadership, which has been the prevalent condition since World War II.

I think it is a very natural tendency for the nations to increase their influence in the international space, as they pursue their international relations with different countries.

People are really excited by Obama abroad because he seems to be the first American presidential candidate who has ambition to go out of the country. In a sense, with the power of globalization, you are kind of electing the leader of the Western world to an extent.

The shortcomings of America's political leaders do not stop at our borders.

Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead - they call us.

The United States plays, for the most part, a constructive global role, and to the extent that that role shrinks, other countries, even those most critical of what America does abroad, will suffer.

Americans tend to see U.S. primacy as beneficial to both their country and the rest of the world.

China is a global actor without (yet) being a true global power.

There is a hunger for the United States to be present again.

We are a global power, active and responsible on the world stage. This will never change.

I'm a member of Societies of Former World Leaders. And I've always been sort of in favor of constructive engagement around the world. And Gary Johnson has influenced me on criminal justice reform. I think I had some influence in discussions with him about the approach to international affairs.

I worry about the future of this country for our kids and grandkids and America not being on the world stage and that vacuum being filled by the likes of Vladimir Putin.

What I'm interested in is Britain projecting itself abroad, and through that its values and the things it holds dear. And I don't think you do that by refusing to talk to the world's second-largest economy [China]. In fact, that is positively counter-productive in my view.

The Americans have a very active presence and policy in every single part of the world and if we broke with them, we would lose any possibility of influencing them. They would go in for global unilateralism, and the world would be a more dangerous place.

Before the Iraq war I was quite disturbed by some of the neoconservatives, who were saying things like, "What is the point of being a superpower if you can't do such-and-such, take on these responsibilities?" The point of being a superpower is that people will leave you alone.

It was leadership here at home that gave us strong American influence abroad, and the collapse of imperial Communism. Great nations have responsibilities to lead, and we should always be cautious of those who would lower our profile, because they might just wind up lowering our flag.

Putin is going to be considering the United States his number one enemy no matter who our president is - and no matter who's elected, that isn't going to change. I think Putin is loving the media saying he's got all this power, 'cause they're a Third World country outside of their military.

I think I would have a very good relationship with many foreign leaders.

Somehow a U.N. resolution about Syria puts us where we need to be? I think it is a reflection of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's beliefs that our foreign policy gets set by others.

Seven-and-a-half years of the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has weakened America's place in the world and it has emboldened the enemies of our freedom.

When I became secretary of state, I felt one of my primary jobs was building relationships around the world. And I did spend a lot of time and effort thinking through, How do I connect with this person?..

I was working with a number of African heads of state. And after their initial surprise, I think many of them just treated me as they would anybody else. They had to deal with me as a representative of the United States of America, and the United States of America was too important to be dismissed or ignored on any grounds.

My priority is to give the United States the kind of influence it should have.

We, Britain and Germany, can neither of us be happy about our handling of the Iraq war.