Unilateral Decisions Quotes

One of Ivan the Terrible's mistakes was to overlook the five great feudal families. If he had annihilated those five families, there would definitely have been no Time of Troubles. But Ivan the Terrible would execute someone and then spend a long time repenting and praying. God got in his way in this matter. He ought to have been still more decisive!

Tolerance is a one-way street in the Age of Obama. 'Choice' is in the eye (and iron fist) of the First Amendment usurper.

I am not invested with dictatorial powers. If I were, I should be quite ready to dictate.

The UN system is not very democratic, everyone knows that the Security Council is not democratic.

This system of splitting up into spheres of influence a country which, while nominally a unit, represents as a matter of fact different political and administrative entities, is not one that can be recommended. More especially is this the case where, as in Morocco, it was done without consultation with the ruler or the people of the country, and introduces frontiers that only to a very small extent are based upon natural or physical features--frontiers that pass through unexplored and unknown districts.

I know as a manager you have to abide by the chairman's decisions. But his decisions were this team, that team, this player, that player. The chairman is a control freak.

I want to make clear, in the most emphatic way, that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept measures that, in a unilateral way, one government wants to impose on another. That we are not going to accept.

For years, American officials visiting China marvelled at how Chinese leaders could push through infrastructure projects and sweeping legislative changes without the complications of opposition and the niceties of voting.

Grand bargains area a bad idea. Grand bargains are usually sought by people who do not want to make any progress.

The Russians continue to say that they'll still go after terrorists, but that's a very elastic term. They're going after anybody they want. I don't trust them.

Looking back now, I realise why, as prime minister of Malaysia, I was described as a dictator. There were many things I did which were typically dictatorial.

Obama is a statist. He's an authoritarian. He doesn't want to govern; he wants to rule.

Public opinion in Egypt is very antagonistic to the way the dictatorship, Mubarak dictatorship, interpreted relations with Israel. Very antagonistic.

If all mankind, minus one, were of one opinion ..., mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power would be justified in silencing mankind.

Bush’s crimes are … more worrisome than Clinton’s. He has taken powers and … is adopting standards that are a terrible anathema to our people...He claims powers that even King George did not claim at the time of the Revolution.

What they're doing is, they're making the decisions for us. That's what this country is coming down to. They're going to make the decisions for us.

The more centralized the power, the less compromises need to be made in architecture.

I've been very sensitive for a long time to the repeated pattern, during economic hard times or after a war, of the United States' essentially unilaterally disarming.

To be sure, many of the Sykes-Picot borders reflected deals cut in Europe rather than local demographic or historical realities. But that hardly makes the Middle East unique: Most borders around the world owe their legacy less to thoughtful design or popular choice than to some mixture of violence, ambition, geography, and chance.

The right of initiative...belongs exclusively to ME, and is indissolubly bound to the autocratic power entrusted to ME by GOD....No one is called to take upon himself before ME petitions about the general welfare and needs of the state. Such departures from the order established by existing legislation can only hinder me in the execution of MY aims

The CVC and CAG are independent but merely recommendatory. The government often ignores their advice.

It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.

What is illiberal is not persuasion but imposition of one's views.

I only have disdain for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He raised taxes and has increased regulations. What else is new? He's a bully who wants to micro-manage people's lives by mandate, not persuasion.

At times we expected the allies unquestioningly to follow our leads; sometimes we failed to consult them in advance before reversing policies; at other times we ignored their requests.