Stephen Michael Stirling Quotes

Every time that we've ever fought, we fought to keep from bein' destroyed. We've never started a war.

The new government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors.

The peak efficiency of knowledge and strategy is to make conflict unnecessary.

I don't know that I'm gonna get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there's a good chance I won't. And if I don't, do you honestly believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me?

There is a point beyond which conciliation looks like capitulation. I do not believe I passed that point, but others have thought otherwise.

Negotiation and discussion are the greatest weapons we have for promoting peace and development.

Make no enemies; he is insignificant indeed that can do thee no harm.

No, [the U.S.] has made it clear that we consider a peaceful resolution an essential aspect of American foreign policy. This I believe to be a situation understood by China, but again, it is important to not sound too truculent. Taking on a billion-plus Chinese is not an enterprise which one should enter lightly.

Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite

It has perhaps always been the case that the waging of peace is the hardest form of leadership of all.

It's really difficult trying to find the line where you don't piss anybody off.

We not only brought peace to many countries and people around the world, but we never dropped a bomb, we never launched a missile, and we never fired a bullet while I was in office. Yet we protected the interests of the American people in a peaceful, but strong way.

We ought so to behave to one another as to avoid making enemies of our friends, and at the same time to make friends of our enemies.

Let every girl, let every woman, let every mother here [in Israel]-and there in my country [Egypt]-know we shall solve all our problems through negotiations around the table rather than starting war.

You cannot have a diplomatic offensive without talking.

The inhabitants will always see both sides of an argument so long as it can result in a fight.

When Hillary Clinton ran against Senator [Barack] Obama she thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with.

The proposed liberal solution was always negotiation. Just as they believed in nuclear arms negotiations for their own sake, they believe in a "peace process" without regard to what its consequences might be....It was impossible for any peace plan to fail in their eyes, since lack of progress was nearly always interpreted as evidence that new talks were now "urgent".

No negotiation is ever possible if you have to negotiate not only with the people in the room but also with some other committee in permanent session.

We discovered that peace at any price is no peace at all.

If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of these two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both.

Don't fight the rabbits. If you fight the rabbits, the elephants are going to kill you.

Our goal is peace. We can gain that peace by strengthening our alliances, by speaking candidly about the dangers before us, by assuring potential adversaries of our seriousness, by actively pursuing every chance of honest and fruitful negotiation.

In several speeches and interviews, Donald Trump has brought up his book 'The Art of the Deal,' and said that Obama would have negotiated a better deal with Iran if he had read it. It got even more awkward for Obama when Iran was like, 'It worked for us - you guys got screwed!'