Robert E. Rubin Quotes

When I came to office, in terms of diplomacy and national security, as well as the economy, Japan was in a very severe situation.

The downside risk for a President in international affairs is always greater than the upside gain.

There is no sense in putting the office of the President on the line on an issue and then being defeated.

[George W. Bush is] … the most dangerous President in my lifetime.

One of the big goals of my administration will be to reposition Mexico again as an emerging power.

I remember the last three days that I was president, I never went to bed at all. I never went to bed until we had negotiated the final release of the hostages.

You know, I wish the world well. I want Iraq to have democracy and the Haitians to have democracy. I want the people of Afghanistan to thrive. Lord knows, we spend enough money there to help them. What about people at home? Isn't that our first responsibility?

One of the things about politics, when you're actually there, you realize, you're on a high wire and there is no net under you. On any given day, your campaign can implode for something that happens inadvertently or even intentionally.

It would be normal for anybody running a high-profile, politically controversial operation in China to anticipate worst-case scenario, and to do everything possible to guard against them.

Political risk is hard to manage because so much comes down to the personal choices of policymakers, whether prime ministers or heads of central banks.

We don't want a president who fails at domestic and foreign policy.

For years, the West supported Mubarak and gave aid for what it hoped was stability - but was actually stagnation - in the Middle East.

The Sudan bombing is a blot on the Clinton presidency, and a blot it ought to remain.

After all our experience we are sure that America is the only country able to help us.

I would not vote for any Republican who was not in favor of giving assistance to England and France

In matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation’s peril.

If you operate any kind of major diplomacy, you must run some risk.

Foreign policy questions bring trouble to senators and congressmen—rarely benefit.

… so as not to hazard the Constitution.

I’ve had foreign policy experience as governor of Texas—with Mexico.

When you have an American Presidential election, everyone [in NATO] "goes to tea" for a while.

Politicians worry about downside political risks. Generally speaking, they are risk minimizers.

We don't have much to say about your Arab-Arab border differences such as you have with Kuwait. All we hope is that you solve this quickly.

There was no authority with which diplomacy could deal.

As long as we can outproduce the world, can control the sea and can strike inland with the atomic bomb, we can assume certain risks otherwise unacceptable in an effort to restore world trade, to restore the balance of power —military power—and to eliminate some of the conditions which breed war.