Foreign Affairs Quotes

• Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.

  John F. Kennedy

  Defeat, Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy

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• Watching foreign affairs is sometimes like watching a magician; the eye is drawn to the hand performing the dramatic flourishes, leaving the other hand - the one doing the important job - unnoticed.

  David K. Shipler

  Jobs, Eye, Hands

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• The success of this Government, and thus the success of our Nation, depends in the last analysis upon the quality.of our career services. The legislation enacted by the Congress, as well as the decisions made by me and by the department and agency heads, must all be implemented by the career men and women in the Federal service. In foreign affairs, national defense, science and technology, and a host of other fields, they face problems of unprecedented importance and perplexity. We are all dependent on their sense of loyalty and responsibility as well as their competence and energy.

  John F. Kennedy

  Loyalty, Responsibility, Technology

  "Special Message to the Congress on Federal Pay Reform". February 20, 1962.

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• In foreign affairs we must make up our minds that whether we wish it or not, we are a great people and must play a great part in the world. It is not open to us to choose whether we will play that great part or not.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Play, People, Mind

  "A Compilation of the Messages and Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1905".

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• the issue of war or peace is an issue that concerns not only experts on Foreign Affairs but every citizen of the United States.

  Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  War, Issues, United States

  Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1981). “War within and without: diaries and letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1939-1944”, Berkley

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• We're in an illusion about what our role is in world politics and foreign affairs, and our policies are killing and destroying and doing a lot of things that we are not aware of.

  Talib Kweli

  Roles, World, Affair

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• 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

  Long, Waiting, Vagabonds

  Tom Waits (2007). “The Early Years: The Lyrics of Tom Waits 1971-1983”, Ecco

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• I don't believe I'll ever get credit for anything I do in foreign affairs, no matter how successful it is, because I didn't go to Harvard.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Believe, Successful, Credit

  To columnist Hugh Sidey. Quoted in Alistair Cooke The Americans (1980).

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• 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

  Political, Phrases, Politics

  Benjamin Disraeli (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Benjamin Disraeli (Illustrated)”, p.4987, Delphi Classics

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• We look a little bit disorderly, indecisive, leaderless. That's a real problem, and that's a problem that concerns me particularly on foreign affairs. The presidency, not just President Obama, but the presidency in recent years has lost some of the terrain that they used to dominate in the making of foreign policy. I think President Obama has to make a serious effort to regain it because he lost some of it himself.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  Real, Thinking, Years

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• Neville Chamberlain looked at foreign affairs through the wrong end of a municipal drainpipe.

  Winston Churchill

  Political, Politics, Affair

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• I found Mr. Carter's actions toward the Republic of China so incredible that they defy description by socially acceptable expletives. If December 7, 1941 was a "day of infamy" then December 15, 1978 ranks right up there in international betrayal...The pathetic thing about this whole mess, however, is that it is typical of this administration's conduct of foreign affairs, which could be kindly described as being riddled by ineptitude and hypocrisy.

  Barry Goldwater

  Betrayal, War, Hypocrisy

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• 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

  War, Usa, People

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• It's simply not true that Donald Trump has no experience in foreign affairs. Hell, two of his foreign affairs resulted in marriages!

  Michael R. Burch

  Two, Hell, Affair

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• 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

  Animal, Insightful, Events

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• People are always asking me in interviews, 'What do you think of foreign affairs?' I just say, 'I've had a few.'

  Dolly Parton

  Thinking, People, Asking

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• In foreign affairs, the president can do what he wants unless Congress says no. In domestic policy, the president can't do anything unless Congress says yes.

  Bill Vaughan

  President, Want, Affair

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• Nowhere have women been more excluded from decision-making than in the military and foreign affairs. When it comes to the military and questions of nuclear disarmament, the gender gap becomes the gender gulf.

  Eleanor Smeal

  Military, War, Gender Gap

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• One of the foremost activities of the NSA's FAD, or Foreign Affairs Division, is to pressure or incentivize EU member states to change their laws to enable mass surveillance.

  Edward Snowden

  Law, Nsa, Division

  "Snowden: NSA pressured EU into creating ‘European bazaar’ of spy networks". www.rt.com. March 7, 2014.

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• I've always had a weakness for foreign affairs.

  Mae West

  Weakness, Lovers, Affair

  Mae West (1967). “The wit and wisdom of Mae West”

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• Geoffrey's personal style was very different from mine. He has a lovely speaking voice, a quiet speaking voice. But at Cabinet we always reported on foreign affairs - we always had this quiet voice. It was so quiet sometimes I had to say 'speak up'. And he gave it in a way which wasn't exactly scintillating. And you know, foreign affairs are interesting. They affect everything that happened to our own way of life, and they are exciting. And so we just diverged.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Quiet Voice, Interesting, Style

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• I studied political science and international relations and had the intention of becoming a journalist or work in foreign affairs. I had no intention of making a film.

  Philippe Falardeau

  Political, Becoming, Film

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• When the San Francisco Democrats treat foreign affairs as an afterthought, as they did, they behaved less like a dove or a hawk than like an ostrich - convinced it could shut out the world by hiding its head in the sand.

  Jeane Kirkpatrick

  Ostriches, San Francisco, World

  Jeane J. Kirkpatrick (2018). “Legitimacy and Force: State Papers and Current Perspectives: Volume 1: Political and Moral Dimensions”, p.594, Routledge

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• Our best presidents have really combined domestic leadership with heroic achievements in foreign affairs or war.

  Allan Lichtman

  War, Achievement, President

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• 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

  Achievement, President, Literature

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