I have spoken to Chinese leaders occasionally on human rights, but I’ve always done it in private.

Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.

Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.

Take the diplomacy out of war and the thing would fall flat in a week.

History shows that, more often than not, loss of sovereignty leads to liberalisation imposed in the interests of the powerful.

It is true that the king has made a truce with the duke of Burgundy for fifteen days and that the duke is to turn over the city of Paris at the end of fifteen days. Yet you should not marvel if I do not enter that city so quickly.

No one doubts that innocent men, women and children have been the victims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. And there’s no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime.

For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible – and no one can now doubt the word of America.

And every human being is precious.

It’s a near miracle that nuclear war has so far been avoided.

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.

I have always seen the United States as a force of good. And I have learned that there is the idealistic part about what we can do at the U.N. and there is a doable part. And I have learned what is more doable.

When George W. Bush came into office, North Korea had maybe one nuclear weapon and verifiably wasn’t producing any more.

Israelis would mostly breathe a sigh of relief if Palestinians were to disappear.

I’m not for gay marriage, but I’m not for discriminating against people.

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.

When I was 18, I went to the Soviet Union. I kept hearing that America was planning to bomb them – lots of bombs were going to come down on these people. I went there not knowing anything, except that I thought the whole thing was stupid and that I wanted to see who these people were that we were going to bomb.

President Assad, I worked with. I know him reasonably well, met with him a few times, and he’s a liar.

If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.

International summits and organisations like WTO take decisions, which will bind us, and if we are not present in such summits, we may be hurt by the decisions taken.

When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that’s a violation of basic human rights.

A war with Pakistan would be an utter disaster.

Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.

It is my view that we cannot conduct foreign policy at the extremes.

Foreigners don’t want to invest any more in France – and this is not working.

The U.S. and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world.

The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Far East and the Near East from encroaching on each other.

Diplomacy is the art of saying ‚Nice doggie‘ until you can find a rock.

In 1963, the U.N. Security Council declared a voluntary arms embargo on South Africa. That was extended to a mandatory embargo in 1977. And that was followed by economic sanctions and other measures – sometimes officials, countries, cities, towns – some organized by popular movements.

To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.

We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.

More understand China, then more people will have interest in China and more people will come to China to visit us because I am a tourist ambassador.

Christ managed to boil down an awful lot of commandments to a few very simple rules for living. It’s when you go backwards through the ‚begats‘ and the Garden of Eden, and you start thinking, ‚Hang on, that’s a big punishment for eating one lousy apple… There’s a human-rights issue.‘

A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it, too. But the government won’t allow it.

I think that slavery is wrong, morally, socially and politically. I desire that it should be no further spread in these United States, and I should not object if it should gradually terminate in the whole Union.

From my intimate discussions with President Obama, it is evident that India figures significantly in American geo-political, economic and strategic thinking. India is the largest democracy in the world.

Now if there is one thing that we do worse than any other nation, it is try and manage somebody else’s affairs.

War is what happens when language fails.

The equal right of all citizens to health, education, work, food, security, culture, science, and wellbeing – that is, the same rights we proclaimed when we began our struggle, in addition to those which emerge from our dreams of justice and equality for all inhabitants of our world – is what I wish for all.

The many questions about the bombing of Yugoslavia by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – meaning primarily the United States – come down to two fundamental issues: ‚What are the accepted and applicable ‚rules of world order,‘ and how do these apply in the case of Kosovo?‘

In Romania, American forces have found a devoted NATO ally.

We live in an inter-dependent world. An isolated India is not in our interest.

I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom.

Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose.

For more than four decades, the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant – Moammar Gaddafi. He has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorized innocent people around the world – including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents.

America’s promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That’s one of the reasons why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.

Egypt is the second-largest recipient over a long period of U.S. military and economic aid. Israel is first.

What do I care about Jupiter? Justice is a human issue, and I do not need a god to teach it to me.

It makes sense for Japan to pursue a more independent role in the world, following Latin America and others in freeing itself from U.S. domination.

The people of the world genuinely want peace. Some day the leaders of the world are going to have to give in and give it to them.

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it… You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.

Law is always better than war.

Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.

Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities.

Freedom of opinion can only exist when the government thinks itself secure.

I’m opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, public education, or public health, period.

I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid.

I was arrested three times and tortured once.