Latest John F. Kerry Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I think that all of the cyber attacks that are taking place, but particularly this - the Russian one, had a profound impact on the American system, on our political process, on our - it invaded the space of our election. The releasing on a regular basis of one party's stolen emails had an impact, and I think that other things also had an impact.

  John F. Kerry

  Thinking, Profound, Political

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• We don't need a president who just says, "Gentlemen, start your engines." We need a president who says, America, let's start our economy and put people back to work.

  John F. Kerry

  People, Gentleman, President

  Source: www.foxnews.com

• If the tea party folks would go out there and get angry because they think their taxes are too high, for God's sake, a lot of citizens ought to get angry about the fact that they're being killed and our planet's being injured by what's happening on a daily basis by the way we provide our power and our fuel and the old practices that we have. That's something worth getting angry about.

  John F. Kerry

  Party, Thinking, Tea

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

• I think the world is safer without Iran with a nuclear weapon. The world has got the potential to be safer if we fully implement the Paris agreement.

  John F. Kerry

  Thinking, World, Nuclear Weapons

  Source: www.pbs.org

• I think, all in all, the Obama administration and what President Obama has focused on has lived up to our need to protect American interests, to live our values and assert our values, and to stand up for future generations.

  John F. Kerry

  Thinking, President, Protect

  Source: www.pbs.org

• Nobody's interests are served by what's happening in Syria today. It's a catastrophe. It's the worst human catastrophe since World War II. And, as I said just now, it represents a failure of the entire international community to come to grips with solving it.

  John F. Kerry

  War, Community, World

  Source: www.pbs.org

• You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

  John F. Kerry

  Horse, Water, Drink

  Source: www.pbs.org

• My hope is the Trump administration will approach Russia strategically, with a clear purpose of trying to find more common ground, but without giving up on fundamental values and principles that are at the core of the United States' foreign policy.

  John F. Kerry

  Giving Up, Trying, Purpose

  Source: www.pbs.org

• What Donald Trump is doing is serving the polluters and serving a narrow group of ideological interests. That's not leadership. That's abdication of responsibility, and this step does not make America first. It makes America last.

  John F. Kerry

  Responsibility, Interest, Ideological

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

• We need a leader who has a sense of balance, an understanding of the ebb and flow of history and a sense of our country's unique place in it. This is a foreign policy debate, and you cannot conduct foreign policy without a sense of what we are fighting for. And any President who can reduce the conduct of this country's affairs to a morning's attack by a bunch of demented fascists does not, in my view, understand what this great nation is all about.

  John F. Kerry

  Fighting, Unique, Leader

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• When President Bush sees America, he sees only a military superpower. I see a moral and idealistic beacon. Mr. Bush may talk about democracy all he wants, but it is not democracy to wilfully disdain and heap scorn on world opinion. We do not command moral leadership by starting pre-emptive wars.

  John F. Kerry

  Military, War, President

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• We need to talk to all the players in the Middle East, not because we agree with them, but because they play a role.

  John F. Kerry

  Player, Agree

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• We do have to take the long-term view. And long term, the question to ask ourselves is whether America should attack others pre-emptively, whether she should embroil herself in wars far away from our soil, and try to bring democracy by force to the rest of the world.

  John F. Kerry

  War, Long, Democracy

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• We are being Americans when we hold our government to account. We are being false to our troops when we send them to a needless war, betraying their trust when we shortchange them on protective equipment, and cheating them when we silently cut their benefits.

  John F. Kerry

  Cheating, War, Cutting

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• I believe it is both unwise and even wrong to interfere in the affairs of other nations. Indeed, if we are honest, we will see that this is one of the reasons for 9-11.

  John F. Kerry

  Believe, Honest, Affair

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• What remains unchanged is the principle, which is that we do not launch wars without overwelming reasons, and overwhelming alliances, and without overwhelming force.

  John F. Kerry

  War, Reason, Overwhelming

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• When the nations of the world look upon the United States, they see a country which has achieved what they would all like to become one day. Whether it is in the field of science, art, music, agriculture, politics, economics or war, the United States is the leader.

  John F. Kerry

  Country, Art, War

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• America has everything most countries envy. A Constitution which is the treasure of mankind, a strong military, natural resources of every kind. Above all, as Tocqueville said, a good people, which is what makes us great.

  John F. Kerry

  Country, Strong, Military

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• Assassination, kidnappings and suicide attacks have become too much the standard operating procedure in the Islamic world. So much so that the name of Islam itself has been diminished in the eyes of many people. It is the responsibility of all of us, and particularly those in the Islamic world who care about their religion, to rescue it from its increased association with violence.

  John F. Kerry

  Suicide, Islamic, Eye

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• Great challenges confront our great nation. We seek to meet them by rising to the task, not by defining our country down.

  John F. Kerry

  Country, Challenges

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• We will fight anyone who wishes to impose a totalitarian system upon a free society, and we will always prevail. But we will not do so with a fear-stricken administration which seeks to deprive us of freedoms in the name of 'defending' us from the terrorists, who also seek to deprive us of our freedoms.

  John F. Kerry

  Fighting, Wish, Terrorist

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

• People talk about [Bashar] Assad running Syria. He doesn't control his own country. He's down to about 20, 25 percent of the country. What is this fiction that he is somehow the only person who can save Syria? There's - with Assad there, there is no Syria. So that's what the Iranians and the Russians need to really begin to focus in on.

  John F. Kerry

  Running, Country, People

• I met with many of - a number of [Syrian] refugees in Berlin the other day, and I was struck by how educated, intelligent, and patriotic they are. They want to go back. They love their country. And there are so many of them still in Jordan and in refugee camps in Lebanon and in Turkey, that if you could create the climate within which they could begin to come back, I believe there is such a history of secularism within Syria, even tolerance within Syria, that if we can deal with ISIL, yes. That's the key. And with ISIL there, not a chance.

  John F. Kerry

  Country, Believe, Patriotic

• I think as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the UN, it's a good moment to rekindle our efforts to make multilateralism work yet again. And I'm proud to say that in the Iran agreement I think we did show that it can work.

  John F. Kerry

  Thinking, Agreement, Iran

  "Interview With Nicolle Wallace, Mike Barnicle, Mark Halperin, Richard Haass, and Katty Kay of MSNBC's Morning Joe". 2009-2017.state.gov. September 29, 2015.

• The world has to save Syria. I mean, this has dramatic implications for the entire region, globally.

  John F. Kerry

  Mean, World, Dramatic

  "Interview With Nicolle Wallace, Mike Barnicle, Mark Halperin, Richard Haass, and Katty Kay of MSNBC's Morning Joe". 2009-2017.state.gov. September 29, 2015.