Paul Bremer Quotes

We are not safe. We are safer than we were, but we are not as safe as we could be.

I'm afraid that it's not possible to design a defense against every conceivable threat that you can think of.

At the end of the day, the goals are simple: safety and security.

There is nothing we can do to assure that this will never happen, but there is a lot we can do to assure that it happens more rarely.

The Seven Elevens in downtown Houston are better protected than the largest oil refinery in the world.

We face a wide array of threats, which means we have to have a wide array of capabilities.

It's better to have security and not need it than need it and not have it.

I have some security that could protect me against provocations but of course there are more terrible actions that could not be stopped by any security.

I think the idea that you would do everything you can to prevent what is coming at you by way of something very disruptive - a 9/11 - it's a no-brainer.

In the real world in which we live, it's a dangerous world. And you know the old saying is that we have to be right 100 percent of the time; the terrorists only have to be right once.

We cannot put limitations on ourselves to protect ourselves. We have to put limitations on the enemy.

There is no safety where there is no strength.

I don’t think one can speak of defeating the IRA, of eliminating them completely, but it is the design of the security forces to reduce their level of violence to something like an acceptable level.

Historically, decisive security action took place only after a disaster had occurred or a specific plot had been discovered.

We must do our best to shape the future. But we must not wish away the dangers of the present.

The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.

Throwing money after security turns out to be a classic example of the law of diminishing marginal utility.

… without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.... Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.

Embassies are fixed assets and as such are always subject to terrorist attacks.

When these attacks occur, as they likely will, we will wonder what more we could have done to stop them.

We should be able to defend ourselves by ourselves.

Security and safety are very important for us.

How unprepared we are for a terrorist attack.

"He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing," is one of the fundamental rules of defense.

True terrorism, you know, weaponized fear. In defense of ourselves, we're fighting - actively fighting something else. But if you're going to fight terrorism, to me, you fight the root causes of terrorism.