Barack Obama Quotes

America’s power to intervene effectively overseas depends on its power to persuade and not merely coerce. The power to persuade depends on a willingness to be persuaded. And that willingness depends, ultimately, on America’s willingness to entertain the prospect that it is wrong.

Diplomacy without military capability is nothing more than prayer.

A great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint

Not every threat to America's national interests can be addressed with military power.

In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy.

The mantra from the Obama State Department is 'smart power' - the not-so-new idea that all elements of national power should be utilized to influence other countries.

President Obama's record on national security is a tribute to his strength, and judgment, and to his preference for inclusion and partnership over partisanship.

Power alone is respected and ... in order to gain peace, the United States has no alternative but to wield it

Foreign policy works best when force and diplomacy are used together.

Foreign policy does not mean guns and rifles, but utilizing all legitimate international means to convince others.

You always have more than one goal in foreign policy.

A great power that uses force far less than vital interests, and that does so frequently or with a short fuse, risks mobilizing other states to join ranks to balance against it.

Public diplomacy, practiced in harmony with traditional diplomacy, will enable us to advance our interest, to protect our security, and to continue to provide the moral basis for our leadership in the world.

Unilateralism in secret is sometimes necessary at the height of a crisis.

For nearly 7 decades United States has been the anchor of global security. This is meant more than forging international agreements. It has meant enforcing them.

America remains the indispensable nation. There are times when America, and only America, can make a difference between war and peace, between freedom and repression.

Soft power … cannot accomplish much in the absence of a willingness to use hard power.

I think it also important that the policies of the great nations be made simple and clear, so that the chance of misunderstanding is minimized.

People think that it only takes an American decision to solve this or that problem [in foreign affairs].

In the aftermath of September 11, it has been made clear to us that our foreign policy can no longer afford to narrowly focus on short-term benefits. For our nation's long-term security, we must be active in promoting American values abroad through our foreign policy.

Whether you're dealing with your allies in Europe or you're dealing with a resurgent Russia, whether you're dealing with Iran or North Korea, you have to use the whole panoply of national tools of power to deal with the challenges the world faces.

I believe in much more diplomacy, not less.

On foreign policy, Obama has talked softly and carried a big stick.

We have to return to a foreign policy of restraint, one that develops our capabilities and our potential in communities across America, and not become bogged down in unwinnable conflicts that lead to greater resentment of the United States, and that don't advance American interests.

American foreign policy needs to be driven by what will get results and what is legal, not by what satisfies our primal instincts of revenge.