John Bolton Quotes

Maybe a thing that you do not like is really in your interest. It is possible that a thing that you may desire may be against your interest.

Be careful not to compromise what you want most for what you want now.

We are not able to sacrifice our short term interests for the sake of the long term.

I will always need to compromise and make choices - you just have to work hard at making the right choice day by day.

'No' is a dynamic that you've got to master before you can ever master 'yes.'

If anything gets in the way of me being a good mom or wife, I simply say no.

We aren't, as human beings, very good at acting in our best interest.

We benefit, intellectually and personally, from the interplay between different selves, from the balance between long-term contemplation and short-term impulse. We should be wary about tipping the scales too far. The community of selves shouldn't be a democracy, but it shouldn't be a dictatorship, either.

The intimate contest for self-command never ends, and lifetime happiness requires finding the right balance between present impulses and future well-being.

The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.

One never knows whether people have principles on principle or whether for their own personal satisfaction.

I am incredibly, incredibly fortunate about the opportunities I've had. But at the same time, I've had plenty of opportunities to screw it up, too. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is 'No...' and not feel the need to do everything. It's about doing what rings true to me.

Positive defaults protect you from yourself - and that helps you to make decisions in the moment that are better for your long-term interests.

A lot of people, some of them close to me as well, have said that I sacrificed myself by doing what I did in bringing Terry on board. I didn't see it that way.

It is interest alone which does it, and it is interest alone which can be trusted.

If a President doesn't make enemies, he just won't be a very good President, that's all.

The English people would never consent to go to war for a cause in which England was not manifestly interested.

It is impossible for a Minister to please the many without displeasing the few

The pursuit of self-interest, no matter how artfully it be managed, inevitably leads to war in the long run, and all the more inevitably when the management is artful than when it is crude.

Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

I realise that I need to be selfish at times as well as smart in decision-making and just not throw away my wicket.

When things get heated, you are pulled in different directions, and you've to stand firm.

You can love something too much, you can spend too much time with something - that's when you've got to learn how to balance.

Self-denial is often the sacrifice of one sort of self-love for another.

It is madness to risk losing what you need in pursuing what you simply desire.