Theodore C. Sorensen Quotes

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.

It was Hillary Clinton who worked with Russia on the New START Treaty to reduce their nuclear weapons stockpile. It was Hillary Clinton that worked with Russia to get them engaged in a community of nations to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons without firing a shot. She's not going around praising Vladimir Putin as a great guy. But she knows how to sit down at a table and negotiate tough deals. This is a very challenging part of the world, and we ought to have a commander-in-chief who is prepared and done it, rather than somebody who goes around praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader.

We probably could more successfully resolve the North Korean nuclear threat through game-theoretic reasoning. We could successfully resolve what American leaders seem to perceive as an Iranian nuclear threat through game-theoretic reasoning.

The format's better because it gives us a much stronger hand to play when going to the North Koreans unified, with our allies and partners in the region, all of us saying the same thing: telling them their current course is unacceptable.

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

I think what you can see is that we have worked very closely with China. China has really stood up in putting the pressure on North Korea.

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

Many Europeans are concerned that stronger sanctions are a slippery slope toward war unless the U.S. is at the table.

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

I think most Americans believe that although it's better not to use military force if you can avoid it, that the world simply doesn't provide us the luxury of giving away military force as an important tool of foreign policy.

I told him that my own opinion was that the time now and the method now to deal with Russia was to keep our mouths shut and let our actions speak for words.

The U.S. engages with North Korea, so I don't see why they can't engage with Iran.

Colin Powell has said over the years that Saddam Hussein is like a toothache. It recurs from time to time, and you just have to live with it. At other times, he's compared Saddam Hussein to a kidney stone that will eventually pass. But he has never said, 'You have to operate and take out the kidney stone.'

I've been arguing this for months. This is not our war. This is not a war we should be in. Australia's better spending its time negotiating with North Korea.

The U.S and England are not worthy of security council membership. Those who want good relations with the Iranian people should bow and surrender to its right and might.

The voice and force of the United States may count for nothing if they are withheld too long.

The management of a balance of power is a permanent undertaking, not an exertion that has a foreseeable end.

Most people are disturbed by the shift from deterrence to preemption but the fact is that in international relations, deterrence has a poor track record

No American President should ever take any option off the table.

There are two things that are very expensive in international relations: promises when they succeed and threats when they fail

If the United States credibly threatens to treat Pakistan like it does Iran, Pakistan’s leaders would find it best to cooperate.

The reason that our policy and negotiations with North Korea have failed so badly that is sane people negotiating with crazy people.

It’s not in our interest to drive the Russians into a beleaguered attitude where they have to prove what they can do.

I have carried bills concerning Sudan. I've carried bills concerning Congo. I've carried bills concerning North Korea and Iran and Iraq.

We need to quit appeasing our adversaries, and we need to stand with our allies.