James Reston Quotes

Every government is in some respects a problem for every other government.

Oh dear. Oh dear. Why do all these old gentlemen feel so confident that they understand foreign affairs.

You cannot have individual foreign policy. You cannot have celebrity foreign policy.

Obama's foreign policy is strangely self-centered, focused on himself and the United States rather than on the conduct and needs of the nations the United States allies with, engages with, or must confront.

The matter of international relations is very subtle and exquisite.

The internal affairs of other countries has a big impact on American interests.

The way you change foreign policy is by raising the domestic political cost of the policy.

We do not want to tie ourselves ... to the United States, because she is unreliable ... and her statesmen do not know the mind of their own country.

All foreign policy is the intervention of one nation's domestic politics into another nation's domestic politics.

One doesn't set aside reality in pursuing our interests abroad.

I should drag in the United States.

People tend to leave foreign affairs to governments because they think the leaders of government have all the information and know better.

This is not our choice but this is the law of the politics. You always reciprocate. Positively, negatively, but this is something which you cannot change. It was not invented by us. It is the law of international relations.

Never for a moment, have the responsible and instructed statesmen in charge of the foreign affairs of the United States failed to consider themselves bound to insist upon this policy .... Almost every President and Secretary of State has re-stated the doctrine with vigor and emphasis in the discussion of the diplomatic affairs of his day.

Such a conspiracy does not accord with the general sentiments or views of the United States to intermeddle in the domestic contests of other nations..

My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos.

Foreign policy can no longer be the province of just a few elites.

When I became secretary of state, I felt one of my primary jobs was building relationships around the world.

Donald Trump is an American presidential nominee who was describing Russia in terms that they haven't heard almost ever. And so there is a belief that Donald Trump would be a collaborative, willing and I think perhaps quite able partner.

I believe that we do not share as many values with Russia yet as we do with the United States. On the other hand, we have a strong interest in Russia developing in a reasonable direction.

In foreign policy, even if you hold high office, you can't be sure what the effects will be of the things you do.

Today, it is imperative to end this hysteria, to refute the rhetoric of the Cold War and to accept the obvious fact: Russia is an independent, active participant in international affairs. Like other countries, it has its own national interests that need to be taken into account and respected.

When it comes to foreign policy, it is important to remember that politics stops at the water's edge.

It is not wise for Chinese to do things to artificially disrupt relations with the U.S.

We intend to continue our interest in the affairs of Europe and of the world.