138 Foreign Policy Quotes
Following is our list of foreign policy quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about us foreign policy.
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Famous Foreign Policy Quotes
Foreign policy will require a strategic agility that, whenever possible, gets ahead of problems, strengthens U.S. security and alliances, and promotes American interests and credibility. — Chuck Hagel
We have the responsibility to ensure that our first impulse in foreign affairs is one of bipartisanship. — Richard Lugar
A political society does not live to conduct foreign policy; it would be more correct to say that it conducts foreign policy in order to live. — George F. Kennan
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. — George Washington
Our foreign policy has made a wreck of this planet. I'm always in Africa... And when I go to these places I see American policy written on the walls of oppression everywhere. — Harry Belafonte
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. — Thomas Jefferson
The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia. — Otto von Bismarck
We need American foreign policy that tells the world very clearly that it is bad to be our enemy and good to be our friend. — Marco Rubio
Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. — George Washington
If you know a country's geography, you can understand and predict its foreign policy. — Napoleon Bonaparte
Policy sits above conscience. — William Shakespeare
So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of good will and friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations. — John Tyler
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it. — Thomas Jefferson
To avoid entangling alliances has been a maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, and its wisdom no one will attempt to dispute. — James Buchanan
Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way. — Lester B. Pearson
Short Foreign Policy Quotes
- A nation is defined not by its borders, but by its interests. — Tim Marshall
- Diplomacy: the art of restraining power. — Henry A Kissinger
- Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck. — Guy de Maupassant
- We don't want to meddle into U.S. politics, we will work with any administration. — Nayib Bukele
- The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy. — Ramsey Clark
- Politics is the art of making your selfish desires seem like the national interest. — Thomas Sowell
- By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more. — Albert Camus
- America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. — John Quincy Adams
Top 10 Foreign Policy Quotes
Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence. — Alexander Hamilton
The honor of a nation is its life. Deliberately to abandon it is to commit an act of political suicide. — Alexander Hamilton
Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. — Henry A. Kissinger
Transforming the European Union into a single State with one army, one constitution and one foreign policy is the critical challenge of the age — Joschka Fischer
We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose. — Robert McNamara
No government can successfully achieve all three goals of having a fixed foreign exchange rate, free capital flows, and an independent monetary policy. — Saifedean Ammous
Foreign aid is neither a failure nor a panacea. It is, instead, an important tool of American policy that can serve the interests of the United States and the world if wisely administered. — Lee H. Hamilton
I'm not much of an economic conservative, and I'm not conservative at all on foreign policy. — Tucker Carlson
For more than a half a century, we know that we prospered because of a bipartisan consensus on defense and foreign policy. We must do more than return to that sensible, cooperative approach. — Hillary Clinton
Ultraliberalism today translates into a whimpering isolationism in foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in domestic policy. — Spiro T. Agnew
American Foreign Policy Quotes
We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. — George F. Kennan
I can think of no faster way to unite the American people behind George W. Bush than a terrorist attack on an American target overseas. And I believe George W. Bush will quickly unite the American people through his foreign policy. — Henry A. Kissinger
We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them. In short, our foreign policy will rest on the traditional American values of restraint and empathy, not on military might. — Theodore C. Sorensen
The reason I made women's issues central to American foreign policy, was not because I was a feminist, but because we know that societies are more stable if women are politically and economically empowered. — Madeleine Albright
Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. — Carroll Quigley
The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern. — Henry A. Kissinger
Asking Senator Fulbright's advice on foreign policy is like asking the Boston Strangler to massage your neck. — Spiro T. Agnew
Words summarize the American philosophy of life: Live and let live; Let's make a deal. 8 words summarize American foreign policy: We're better than you; Do it our way. — Gary North
I think Americans should have a policy of love. That should be the foreign policy, love. Export Love. — Ziggy Marley
American decision-makers must understand how damaging a foreign policy that privileges order and profit over justice really is in the long term. — Samantha Power
Us Foreign Policy Quotes
Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries — Henry A. Kissinger
There is absolutely no point in NATO. Its only purpose is to serve as a tool of US foreign policy. — Vladimir Putin
Well, the most important thing a president will be is commander-in-chief. And that requires having an understanding of the complex issues on foreign policy. Foreign policy presents us often with hard choices, not black or white choices. — Marco Rubio
Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us. — John F. Kennedy
But for us, in Syria, we have principles. We'll do anything to prevent the region from another crazy war. It's not only Syria. Because it will start in Syria. — Bashar al-Assad
Any time someone says "that's it, I'm leaving" I ask them whether they'd prefer to live under US domestic policy, or US foreign policy. As bad as things get inside an empire, they're usually worse in the protectorates. — Jamie Zawinski
Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel. — Joe Klein
In the US, we consider our foreign policy as something rooted in the protection of American ideals of democracy and human development. However, we often fail to see the damaging consequences, many of which may be unintended, on others - including Christians - living in other parts of the world. — Ed McBain
Abroad, our most important policy is to support our troops and continue forward-thinking foreign policy in the war on terror - keeping our enemies on the run and hitting them before they hit us. — Christopher Bond
The only concern which I have today is that we have a policy, a foreign policy, which enables us to avoid a catastrophe; which, if one understands it properly, is indescribable. — Erich Fromm
Foreign Affairs Quotes
The de facto censorship which leaves so many Americans functionally illiterate about the history of US foreign affairs may be all the more effective because it is not official, heavy-handed or conspiratorial, but woven artlessly into the fabric of education and media. No conspiracy is needed. — William Blum
If there is one lesson for U.S. foreign policy from the past 10 years, it is surely that military intervention can seem simple but is in fact a complex affair with the potential for unintended consequences. — Fareed Zakaria
The limitations imposed by democratic political practices makes it difficult to conduct our foreign affairs in the national interest. — Dean Acheson
The people [in the USA] are not very well informed. They certainly don`t know history. They certainly are not interested in foreign affairs very much, unless it comes right to their doorstep. They all learn history through wars. They learn geography through wars. — Bill Maher
Most vagabonds i knowed don't ever want to find the culprit that remains the object of their long relentless quest. The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending, the pursuit you see and never the arrest" - Tom Waits "Foreign Affairs — Tom Waits
On Foreign Secretary Robin Cook: If a man cannot keep a measly affair secret, what is he doing in charge of the Intelligence Service? — Frederick Forsyth
The very phrase 'foreign affairs' makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to treat of subjects with which he has no concern. — Benjamin Disraeli
Americans are inclined to see the world and foreign affairs in black and white. — Richard Kerry
Nixon had some large achievements in foreign affairs. They will be remembered. But a president probably gets remembered for one thing, and Watergate will head the Nixon list, I suspect. — Bob Woodward
To divine the course of world events, you'd do as well to probe the entrails of dead animals. Better still, ask your hairstylist. She will be at least as insightful and probably more entertaining a prophet than anyone you can read in Foreign Affairs or the op-ed page of the Washington Post. — Andrew Bacevich
Foreign Relations Quotes
How could a state be governed, or protected in its foreign relations if every individual remained free to obey or not to obey the law according to his private opinion. — Thomas Hobbes
No matter to what degree China opens up to the outside world and admits foreign capital, its relative magnitude will be small and it can't affect our system of socialist public ownership of the means of production. — Deng Xiaoping
The Council on Foreign Relations is the American branch of a society which originated in England ... [and] ... believes national boundaries should be obliterated and one-world rule established. — Carroll Quigley
If the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) raises the hackles of the conspiracy theorists, the Bilderberg meetings must induce apocalyptic visions of omnipotent international bankers plotting with unscrupulous government officials to impose cunning schemes on an ignorant and unsuspecting world. — David Rockefeller
Having a comic in the White House will assure stability in foreign relations. The world will continue to respond to foreign initiatives by saying, 'You must be joking.' — Pat Paulsen
To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' — Booker T. Washington
The truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States. It controls everything here and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks government at will. — Louis Thomas McFadden
The one thing man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by a World Government, a New World Order. — Henry A. Kissinger
In a world of increasing interdependence, energy security will depend much on how countries manage their relations with one another. That is why energy security will be one of the main challenges of foreign policy in the years ahead. Oil and gas have always been political commodities. — Daniel Yergin
The question shouldn't be what we ought to do, but what we can do. — Rory Stewart
Foreign Countries Quotes
The basic tenet of black consciousness is that the black man must reject all value systems that seek to make him a foreigner in the country of his birth and reduce his basic human dignity. — Steven Biko
The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment under neo-colonialism increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and poor countries of the world. — Kwame Nkrumah
War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. — George Orwell
After traveling through fourteen foreign countries and appearing before all the royalty and nobility I have only one wish today. That is that when my eyes are closed in death that they will bury me back in that quiet little farm land where I was born. — Annie Oakley
Our children should be taught to beware of everything foreign and not to disclose any state or party secrets to foreigners... for foreigners are eyes for their countries, and some of them are counterrevolutionary instruments [in the hands of imperialism]. — Saddam Hussein
Icelanders are grateful to meet foreigners who have heard of their country. And even more grateful to hear someone say it deserves better. — Halldór Laxness
The past is a foreign country. — Annie Jacobsen
North Korea continues to play the crazed, powerful weakling to good effect. Its foreign policy consists of being suspicious of everyone except the Chinese, who provide 84% of the country’s imports and buy 85% of its exports. — Tim Marshall
Javier Milei has legalised the use of all foreign currencies in Argentina, including Bitcoin. Not every country has to make Bitcoin legal tender; each country will have their own unique path. All roads lead to Bitcoin. — Samson Mow
We should teach the foreigners and colonialists that Somalia cannot be led by other people and that the traitors who fled the country will never lead Somalia. — Siad Barre
International Relations Quotes
The world is now too small for anything but brotherhood. — A. Powell Davies
Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations — J. William Fulbright
We have no eternal allies, and we have not perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow. — Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
I encounter one example after another of how relative truth is. — Raoul Wallenberg
United States is a great Country and has its effective role on the international arena, so we have to boost our relations with it, in order to achieve peace and stability in our region and the world. — Ali A. Saleh
If China continues to rise, you better be very careful, because that will drive the United States stark raving crazy. — John Mearsheimer
United States is a great Country and has its effective role on the international arena, so we have to boost our relations with it, in order to achieve peace and stability in our region and the world. — Bill Vaughan
According to the first image of international relations, the locus of the important causes of war is found in the nature and behavior of man. Wars result from selfishness, from misdirected aggressive impulses, from stupidity. — Kenneth Waltz
Every aspect of the world today - even politics and international relations - is affected by chemistry. — Linus Pauling
War gives the right to the conquerors to impose any condition they please upon the vanquished. — Julius Caesar
People Writing About Foreign Policy
More Foreign Policy Quotes
You know, I've never believed, in anything, that you had to have role models who looked like you to do something. If I'd been waiting for a black, female, soviet specialist role model, I'd be still waiting. — Condoleezza Rice
It doesn't matter who you vote for we get the same damn policies. We have this thing in Washington called the Uniparty. The Uniparty is owned by various corporate, foreign and pharmaceutical lobbyists. This has to go away!! — Douglas Macgregor
Russia and Norway have a dispute over the Svalbard Islands, the northernmost point on earth with a settled population. Most countries recognize the islands as being under Norwegian sovereignty, but the biggest island has a growing population of Russian migrants who have assembled around the coal-mining industry there. The mines are not profitable, but the Russian community serves as a useful tool in furthering Moscow’s claims on the islands. Norway knows what is coming and has made the Arctic its foreign policy priority. Its air force regularly intercepts Russian fighter jets approaching its borders; the heightened tensions have caused it to move the center of military operations from the south to the north, and it is building an Arctic battalion. Canada and Denmark are expanding their Arctic military capabilities as well. — Tim Marshall
We Communists have got to string along with the capitalists for a while. We need their agriculture and their technology. But we are going to continue massive military programs. . . (soon) we will be in a position to return to a much more aggressive foreign policy designed to gain the upper-hand. — Leonid Brezhnev
We invented this story that Russia was bent on aggression in Eastern Europe.... This is a story that we invented so that we could blame him Vladimir Putin. My argument is that the West, especially the United States, is principally responsible for this disaster. But no American policymaker, and hardly anywhere in the American foreign-policy establishment, is going to want to acknowledge that line of argument, and they will say that the Russians are responsible. — John Mearsheimer
We must open our eyes and see that modern civilization has become so complex and the lives of civilized men so interwoven with thelives of other men in other countries as to make it impossible to be in this world and out of it. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Our greatest foreign policy problem is our divisions at home. Our greatest foreign policy need is national cohesion and a return to the awareness that in foreign policy we are all engaged in a common national endeavor. — Henry A. Kissinger
In societies that worship money and success, the losers become objects of scorn. Those who work the hardest for the least are called lazy. Those forced to live in substandard housing are thought to be the authors of substandard lives. Those who do not finish high school or cannot afford to go to college are considered deficient or inept. — Michael Parenti
And I say that Your Highnesses ought not to consent that any foreigner does business or sets foot here, except Christian Catholics, since this was the end and the beginning of the enterprise, that it should be for the enhancement and glory of the Christian religion, nor should anyone who is not a good Christian come to these parts. — Christopher Columbus
We also think this is a reminder of the long tradition of bipartisan foreign policy that has been the hallmark of America at moments of greatest need, and that's the kind of spirit that we hope will be reflected in our administration. — Barack Obama
Bipartisanship on behalf of an imprudent policy can be folly, just as partisanship on behalf of a just cause can be wise. What is clear is that politics will not stop at the water's edge simply because presidents plead for it. American foreign policy will return to the tradition of Truman and Vandenberg only when the American public demands it. — James M. Lindsay
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure... It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. — Barack Obama
We must shift the energy policy debate in America with an increased focus on alternative and renewable fuels and Congress must pass meaningful alternative fuels and incentive programs to help move the U.S. away from dependence on foreign oil. — Rick Renzi
I suggest that US foreign policy can still be defined as "kiss my ass or I'll kick your head in." But of course it doesn't put it like that. It talks of "low intensity conflict..." What all this adds up to is a disease at the very centre of language, so that language becomes a permanent masquerade, a tapestry of lies. — Harold Pinter
The truth is that just as the 'West' is not a homogenous entity with one view on foreign and domestic policy, nor are Muslims. — Maajid Nawaz
The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith. — Benjamin Netanyahu
I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability that we're seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the modern history of the United States. — Bernie Sanders
In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli. — Howard Zinn
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence . . . the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake. — George Washington
My home policy: I wage war; my foreign policy: I wage war. All the time I wage war. — Georges Clemenceau
Colonialism is known in its primitive form, that is to say, by the permanent settling of repressive foreign powers, with an army, services, policies. This phase has known cruel colonial occupations which have lasted 300 years in Indonesia. — Ahmed Ben Bella
To use the dollar as a tool of foreign policy struggle is one of the biggest strategic mistakes made by the U.S political leadership. It is a stupid mistake. Does anyone in the United States realize this? What are you doing? You are cutting yourself off. Even the United States allies are now downsizing their dollar reserves. — Vladimir Putin
A nation as such does not give aid to another nation. More precisely, the common citizens of our country, through their taxes, give to the privileged elites of another country. As someone once said: foreign aid is when the poor people of a rich country give money to the rich people of a poor country. — Michael Parenti
Bill Clinton is like a lot of white politicians. They eat soul food, they party with black women, they play the saxophone, but when it comes to domestic and foreign policy, they make the same decisions that are destructive to African people in this country and throughout the world. — Sister Souljah
Kissinger-type foreign policy is clearly, in my view, the proper tilt for us in the future, and he [Donald Trump] gets it. And some of our members, I guess, have been so deeply committed to the [George W.] Bush agenda, the neo-conservative agenda, that it's harder for them to acknowledge that. But I acknowledge it. — Jeff Sessions
History and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. — George Washington
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