Vicente Fox Quotes

Statecraft, as these cases convincingly illustrate, is demanding and often exhausting work. There are risks, and success is not guaranteed. It requires major governmental and political resources and the same kind of hourly, year-round planning and execution as the conduct of a military campaign.

Foreign policy is all about a universe of bad decisions, imperfect decisions; every situation is different. The dynamics, the atmospherics, the people, the pressures, the geopolitical realities shift.

Mistakes, after all, are endemic to foreign and military policy given the unpredictability of events and the difficulty of securing reliable information in a place like Iraq.

I used to have a little saying I used when people said, 'What are your priorities?' I'd give them a bit of government alphabet soup. I'd say 'CTCPROW: Counterterrorism, counterproliferation, rest of the world.'

Our public dealings with the Russians can hardly lead to any clear and satisfactory results unless they are preceded by preparatory discussions of the most secret and delicate nature.

There is no area where experience matters more than in war and diplomacy.

It seems to me to matter little whether you have an alliance which is committed to paper, or whether you have an understanding in the minds of the statesmen of the respective countries.

A display of reason rather than a threat of force should be the determining factor in the intercourse among nations.

I'm sure they can grin and bear it for a week. After all it's for world peace.

Our system will prevail but it must be tested by talk and trade.

Let them [France and Germany] especially put their demands in such a way that Great Britain could say that she supported both sides.

Unilateralism in secret is sometimes necessary at the height of a crisis.

Foreign policy is like plumbing. You never notice it till it breaks and then all hell breaks loose.

Our Russian policy must not be dictated by people who have already made up their minds there is no possibility of working with the Russians and that our interests are bound to conflict and ultimately lead to war. From my point of view, this is an untenable position and can but lead to disaster.

There is an appealing moral clarity in dividing the world into friend and foe. But in reality, progress in international affairs so often demands working with those with whom we do not see eye to eye.

We are going to extend our frank hand to seek a relation of friendship - I repeat - of cooperation with the United States.

Internal unity means that external security issues can be dealt with.

Mozambique and Zimbabwe must bring into being a new force in Malawi. We must not allow South Africa to set the course in Malawi... The victory is being planned... It demands cold-bloodedness.

If you look at the developments in the international scene over the past many years, we haven't been able to resolve many problems and many crises, because we have approached them from a zero-sum perspective. My gain has always been defined as somebody else's loss, and through that, we never resolve problems.

In the '80s, we at least had the idea of diplomacy.

There are some issues where we have common interests with Germany, there are some others that we don't... The diplomacy between good neighbors doesn't mean nodding one to another.

As a world leader, America must be prepared to confront any challenge.

The Obama administration rarely demonstrated the ability to shift gears and change policy in its first year. Even in the face of historic events such as the continuing demonstrations against Iran's regime, it stuck devotedly to prior plans.

Alliances and partnerships produce stability when they reflect realities and interests.

I told him that my own opinion was that the time now and the method now to deal with Russia was to keep our mouths shut and let our actions speak for words.