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

I don’t usually admire Sarah Palin, but when she was making fun of this ‚hopey changey stuff,‘ she was right: there was nothing there.

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

I’m the only president you’ve got.

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.

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.

A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy.

As far as U.S. intelligence knows, Iran is developing nuclear capacities, but they don’t know if they are trying to develop nuclear weapons or not. Chances are they’re developing what’s called ‚nuclear capability,‘ which many states have. That is the ability to have nuclear weapons if they decide to do it. That’s not a crime.

The United States supports a strong, united Ukraine with productive and peaceful relationships with both the East and the West, with both Russia and Europe.

Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

When Reagan left office, he was the most unpopular living president, apart from Nixon, even below Carter. If you look at his years in office, he was not particularly popular. He was more or less average. He severely harmed the American economy.

I think long term you can see Tesla establishing factories in Europe, in other parts of the U.S. and in Asia.

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount.

It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

When you are president, being able to clearly articulate detailed plans to help the people of this country is a good thing. Knowing what you’re doing is a good thing. And let me tell you, Hillary Clinton absolutely knows what she’s doing.

We are not going to be satisfied by politicians saying ‚we support you‘ and then walking away. We won’t be satisfied until they meet our demands and act. That’s why simply taking a selfie or posting support on Twitter isn’t enough. That’s why we have to keep striking.

Wars are, of course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain kinds of peace.

We can’t equate democracy with Christianity because the largest democracy on earth is India, which is primarily Hindu. The third largest democracy is Indonesia, which is Islamic. Democracy and freedom are not dependent on Christian beliefs.

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.

You want to know whether we’re better off? I’ve got a little bumper sticker for you: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive! Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!

America is just downright mean.

Democracy as a system has evolved into something that Thomas Jefferson didn’t anticipate.

We have the best government that money can buy.

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

My parents were of the generation who thought they were the children of a free Czechoslovakia, the only democracy in central Europe.

I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman – not me, not Bill, nobody – more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.

I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator.

I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!

The target of preventive war must have several characteristics. It must be virtually defenceless; it must be important enough to be worth the trouble; it must be possible to portray it as the ultimate evil and an imminent threat to our survival.

By what principle of original right is it that one-fiftieth or one-ninetieth of a great nation, by calling themselves a State, have the right to break up and ruin that nation as a matter of original principle?

Senator McCain is Israel’s most unconditional ally in Mossad’s machinations, something that even his worst adversaries would have been able to imagine. McCain participated alongside this secret service in the creation of the Islamic State, which has appropriated a considerable part of Iraq as well as a third of Syria, according to its affirmations.

Stability is when the U.K. and U.S. invade a country and impose the regime of their choice.

Foreign policy is like human relations, only people know less about each other.

Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is.

In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued – they may be essential to survival.

Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance.

If people lose faith in their government, the result is the same whether or not the loss of confidence is justified.

The President is always abused. If he isn’t, he isn’t doing anything.

What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car?

Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other’s speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.

My wife told me if there is any rumors about me, it better be about politics and not about my social life.

The Trump phenomenon is in large part a reaction of Middle America to attacks on its values by intellectual and academic communities. There are other reasons, but this is a significant one.

Russia isn’t going to start a war. They can’t afford it. I think Mr. Putin can be dealt with if we stop screaming at him. You can work with the guy. You just have to know who he is.

The idea that putting Americans ‚first‘ requires a withdrawal from the world is simply wrongheaded because a retreat would achieve exactly the opposite for our citizens.

Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.

I don’t know why they gave me a knighthood – though it’s very nice of them – but I only ever use the title in the U.S. The Americans insist on it and get offended if I don’t.

The United States prefers that Iraq meet its obligations voluntarily, yet we are prepared for the alternative.

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

Liberals are not always so liberal with people who disapprove – disapprove of their point of view.

I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

El Salvador is a democracy so it’s not surprising that there are many voices to be heard here. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans… I have heard a single voice.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.

As capitalism falters, the rich move their money out of the country, violence increases, and politicians promising prosperity are elected.

This election is about who’s going to be the next President of the United States!

Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.

All people are born alike – except Republicans and Democrats.