Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

Japan and Australia share the universal values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights.

Foreign policy that is obviously guided by interests, but that is very much also committed to shared values, so we have a platform, democracy, freedom, respect of human rights that we would like to see respected all over the world and also, a peaceful world order.

Europe must learn to live in and with the world, not to dominate it nor to assume it is superior or more virtuous.

Of all the principles which constitute Liberal Democracy, internationalism is the clearest, the most distinctive, and the one with the longest history.

American foreign policy must uphold the sanctity of international treaties. That is the cornerstone on which all relations between nations must rest.

International policy does not aim at exploiting local, specific conditions to widen zones of influence and create difficulties for another country. The goal of international policy is to insure universal fulfillment of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" and to prevent a sharpening of international tensions and a strengthening of militarist and nationalist tendencies.

I believe mutual respect for one another and cooperation should be the basis for relationships with foreign nations.

As the Cold War melts into history, our first concern should be the preservation and extension of human rights and democracy.

The Conservatives must realise that being sceptical is different from being phobic in what is an interdependent world.

I distinctly remember the vivacious optimism that inundated the United States when the Soviet Union imploded in the early 1990s. This was not glee generated by the doom of an implacable enemy, but thrill germinated by the real possibilities that the future held for freedom.

The stories from Iran's present and past are reminders that freedom, democracy and human rights, or fundamentalism, fascism and terrorism are not geographically and culturally determined, but universal.

The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence.

We learned in World War II that no single nation holds a monopoly on wisdom, morality or right to power, but that we must fight for the weak and promote democracy.

The West hasn't reached its universal state as yet, although its close to it, but it certainly has evolved out of its warring state phase, which it was in for a couple of centuries.

I don't believe that economic and cultural interaction automatically brings greater peace and understanding, although it may help in that regard.

The most tragic paradox of our time is to be found in the failure of nation-states to recognize the imperatives of internationalism.

Foreign Policy has to be less foreign.

Humanity requires that nationalisms be overcome.

Internationalism protects the sovereignty of my country

No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other nation.

This age of globalization is marked by the adoption of universal principles governing such matters as democracy, human rights, trade and development.

There must of course always be separate interests of different nations which their governments are bound to maintain, but there are also common interests in which all civilized nations share. These common interests arise from the interdependence of civilized peoples and they are a product of developing civilization.

I support engagement, diplomacy, and trade with Cuba, China, Vietnam, and many countries with less than stellar human rights records, because I believe that once enslaved people taste freedom and see the products of capitalism, they will become hungry for freedom themselves.

If the European Union wants to be an address where civilizations meet, it must take Turkey in.

Development cooperation between nations is very important because it is one of the building blocks of shared peace, prosperity, and human rights for all. It is one of the antidotes to the poison of xenophobia.