Power Projection Quotes

There is a homely old adage which runs: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.

The portion of the naval force of the Union in actual service has been chiefly employed on three stations -- the Mediterranean, the coasts of South America bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the West Indies

As long as Americans believe that their country has vital interests everywhere on earth, they will behave the same.

We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression.

Great powers are granted the legitimacy to exercise power on the global stage, but the price is a willingness to act—at least at the margins and consistent with their self-interest—for the common good.

The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it.

The United States is the Godfather when it establishes edicts. Others had better live up to them, or else. We have to demonstrate that. So that's what the bombing of Syria was to have demonstrated.

We want, certainly, the threats around the world, those that don't like our way of life, we want them to wonder what options we still have.

Throughout history, powers that did not have a strong navy, even though they were impressive on land, usually failed in all-out war

With a nation, as with a boxer, one of the greatest assurances of safety is to add reach to power.

The West has demonstrated its ability in the past to project power and move troops to distant regions.

Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.

Our national aims can be realized only by military means. The matter needs no further elaboration or interpretation.

The survival of this country depends upon letting the world know we have the power and the ability to use it if the occasion demands.

Those who say that America has to dominate the world, and that you either have to control everything or go home, don't understand the way power is projected.

A major geopolitical disaster

Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.

We have the power to make things new again. To project American strength again, to get our economy going again.

The Russians are bent on establishing both a presence in the Western Hemisphere, and they're looking for opportunities to expand military cooperation: sell equipment, air bases, as well as intelligence gathering facilities.

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

Our democracy has been marred by imperialism.

A credible threat of force is only as good as the political will to use it.

Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place.

Japan became an imperialist country in many ways, but that was much later, after it had already made big progress. I don’t think Japan’s wealth was based on exploiting China. Japan’s wealth was based on its expansion in international trade.

A superpower, however, is only as good as the forces through which it exercises that power.