Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.
Only Nixon could have gone to China. Anyone else would have been criticised from the Right.
I think no commander ever is going to come out and say, 'I'm confident that we can do this.'
My father said I was perfectly suited for Washington because I've always worked around nuts.
We need to learn from our experiences and take responsibilities for our actions and drive on.
Well, the United States is a Pacific power. And we have always had a presence in the Pacific.
I know that young people sometimes, caught up in the moment, make some very foolish decisions.
The Islamic State fighters in Mosul are dead men walking and I think they increasingly know it.
We cleared many of their towns and cities and rural areas of al-Qaida Iraq and other insurgents.
I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation.
I think a quality that a national security adviser must have is the ability to set up procedures.
The bottom line is, you really have to commit to something if you're going to be successful in it.
Iraq has gone from being on the brink to being on the mend, and it clearly has some big advantages.
When you're smaller and leaner, you're not going to have that large a presence throughout the world.
The fact is that Iran doesn't want to see the Taliban come back any more than do most Afghan citizens.
This cannot be the United States being the air force for Shia militias, or a Shia on Sunni Arab fight.
I think it's reality that Iran is going to have influence in Iraq. All elements of Iraq accepted that.
I don't usually comment on columnists' ideas of what I'm thinking. That's a dangerous game to get into.
You have to keep on disrupting. If you let up the pressure, then al-Qaeda senior leadership will come back.
The political and substantive reality is that the agenda has to change. I don't think they have any choice.
Sexual assault has no place in the military. It is a violation of everything that the US military stands for.
Russians understand strength, and if they feel that their opponents are weak, they will take advantage of it.
After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair.
We will win again in Iraq; I do think that Iraq can definitely be handled. I think that it can be kept intact.
When Western politicians propose blanket discrimination against Islam, they bolster the terrorists' propaganda.
Ungoverned spaces in the Islamic world will be exploited by people who wish us ill. They will not be contained.
I really started to get a sense of how, if you will, special Zarqawi was, I guess, sort of midway through 2004.
No greater privilege than I had as a soldier and then as a spymaster and to some degree now in the business world.
The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will.
When you cut a half-a-trillion dollars from the defense budget, it affects almost every area in the defense budget.
These days, it takes only seconds - seconds - for a picture, a photo, to suddenly become an international headline.
Ethno-sectarian violence is a particular concern in Iraq, as it is a cancer that continues to spread if left unchecked.
Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues.
Folks really need to be very cautious about overanalyzing or overparsing what I've said to this reporter or that reporter.
At a certain point, you have to take the rearview mirrors off the bus and focus forward, and that's what we've sought to do.
Clearly, Russia has lied to the world about what's going on in Ukraine. They have clearly violated the cease-fire agreements.
The United States has to have the capability to deal with more than one enemy at one time and be able to confront them and win.
I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.
I am not going to second-guess my old battlefield comrades from Iraq and Afghanistan; each has his own reason for what he has done.
If we don't do something to simplify the tax system, we're going to end up with a national police force of internal revenue agents.
In this century, the 21st century, the U.S. recognizes our prosperity and our security depends even more on the Asia-Pacific region.
You know, as director of the CIA, I got an awful lot of intelligence about all the horrible things that could go on across the world.
Obviously, resilience matters. I was no stranger to adversity, but it's different when it's personal. Not something I would recommend.
The Pakistani Army, the Frontier Corps, the Frontier Scouts and Police have carried out quite impressive counter-insurgency operations.
I had the privilege of serving in uniform with British forces in Cold War Europe, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the greater Middle East.
Nothing means more to those in harm's way than the knowledge that their country appreciates their sacrifices and those of their families.
You cannot deal with an industrial-strength extremist problem just with force of arms. You have to have that political component as well.
If you're asked, you've got to serve - put aside any reservations based on campaign rhetoric... and figure out what's best for the country.
Companies should be able to share specific threat information with the government without the prospect of lawsuits hanging over their head.
I am neither a pessimist nor an optimist. I am a realist, and the reality in Iraq is that it has been very hard and it continues to be hard.