Susan Collins Quotes

Friendly governments do not act so as to undermine the national security of their friends, and do not presume to know better than their friends how they should contend with the many challenges they face. The Swedish government would do well to rethink its intention to act in this way towards its friend Israel.

Trust between allies is as important as deterrence of foes.

Our alliances and our credibility are crucial elements of our working capital in advancing America's interests in the world, and they have been eroded over the last four years.

We should have been there shoulder to shoulder with our allies. Our concern is the instability of our government as an ally. We are playing again with national and global security matters.

The United States has got to adopt a policy of befriending and creating allies around the world.

Turkey has worked alongside its allies from the beginning.

On foreign policy, President Obama has kept our nation safe from terrorism and restored our standing in the world. When it comes to one of our closest allies - Israel - President Obama has been resolute.

The best way to influence our enemies is to stand steadfastly by our friends.

I like to stand up to the Americans. It’s popular, but you have to be very careful because they’re our friends.

There is a lot of juggling between NATO commitment and domestic politics in most countries [belonging to NATO.]

Undertaking to explain our foreign policy in terms of our public opinion is to explain one mystery in terms of another.

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

More and more countries, mostly all countries, do not want large American forces on their soil. That’s a reality. We can live in the denial of that, but we are also living in the reality of that.

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.

Frankly, our adversaries are emboldened by the lack of American leadership in the world, and our friends and our allies, they have lost trust in us.

No one would argue that it's in the United States' interest to have independent knowledge of the plans and intentions of foreign countries. But we need to think about where to draw the line on these kind of operations so we're not always attacking our allies, the people we trust, the people we need to rely on, and to have them in turn rely on us.

For any country - and that includes Mexico and the U.S. - having good, robust relationships with crucial allies and neighbors, that's putting your country first.

Everyone in Congress wants our country to lead, to build alliances, to help American companies compete, and to protect the interests and security of our citizens. You can't have it both ways. You can't expect others to follow if you can't lead, and you can't lead if you don't pay your way.

America will honor our treaty obligations.

Japan is not going to do anything with any country that harms the national interest.

For a sitting U.S. president to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts.

If we are to retain our position as the world's leading superpower, we must maintain our influence and diplomatic relationships. We cannot do that if we become known for abandoning our allies and reneging on our promises.

When I was negotiating with our foreign allies, I knew I had to do so in good faith, or trust would be broken - and those allies wouldn't be there when we really needed them.

For the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies.

It will be quite satisfactory if you open them gradually, as the circumstances may require; but the President assures you that this will not be the case if you make a treaty with England first.