Top 25 National Interests Quotes

As all presidents must, Trump swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, and to faithfully execute his office and the laws in accordance with the Constitution. That oath requires putting the national interests above his personal interests.

The debate on climate change has been tainted by its excessive concern with individual and national interests, short-termism, and lack of solidarity in face of global threats.

War implies a lack of comprehension of mutual national interests; it means the undermining and even the end of culture.

Putin responds to threats, to illegal sanctions, and to incessant propaganda with statements that governments need to respect each other’s national interests and to work together for common benefit. No politician in the West speaks in this way.

In my judgment, us assisting the Chinese military in advancing technologically is not in U.S. national interests.

Everybody pursues their national interests. The only one who gets blamed for it is the United States.

Talk about national interests: When we went in with Operation Iraqi Freedom, some of our allies, Turkey, for example, would not let us through. How much trouble did that cause us, because we were not able to go into Iraq through Turkey?

I remain committed to a balanced policy, which will protect our national interests both on our eastern border – I mean with Russia – and of course with the European Union.

I simply cannot see how denying chemotherapy treatment for Palestinian children increases Israel’s security or advances U.S. national interests.

I think it’s necessary to develop policies and protect national interests based on Japan-U.S. relations.

I would like to put forward a simple thesis that should no longer be at all controversial: it is now objectively the case that our national interests are increasingly affected not just by what happens between states, but also by how people are treated within states.

I think that the president of Iran has the authority wherever which – where – wherever the national interests of the country are involved and, when it is necessary and expedient and required to speak and talk with others in order to promote the rights of its nation, that the president can take that initiative.

So, the point I’m making is, we are not going to cut spending in Washington if we think it’s the job of every congressman and senator is to pave local parking lots and build local sewer plants. These parochial interests are getting in the way of the national interests.

Wars of necessity are essentially unavoidable. They involve the most important national interests, a lack of promising alternatives to the use of force, and a certain and considerable price to be paid if the status quo is allowed to stand. Examples include World War II and the Korean War.

In a situation where many national leaders do the same thing and look out for national interests, and with an issue like global warming, you’re likely to get no solution, so I think you have to have some kind of ethical trump on some of those issues.

The capability of negotiating… is something that means you not only have to understand fully what you believe and what your national interests are but in order to be a really good negotiator, you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.

Not every threat to America’s national interests can be addressed with military power.

We really believe our national interests are identical with European interests.

For a long time, it was believed that war was waged by armies which could not be identified with the nation itself. Professional soldiers took upon themselves the job of defending national interests, and it was understood that the war affected only them; the country itself went on living and working.

We are ready to engage in international co-operation against terrorism with a view to safeguarding national interests and regional security and stability.

Despite advances achieved through objective scientific investigation, and the breaking down of long-standing fears and superstitions, the world is still not a reasonable place. Many attempts to make it so have failed because of selfish individual and national interests.

We must recognize that as the dominant power in the world we have a special responsibility. In addition to protecting our national interests, we must take the leadership in protecting the common interests of humanity.

If you look at military and intelligence positions from the 1950s, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been against American national interests.

Accepting money from the federal government to conduct research places academic inquiry in the service of national interests.

I think that all countries that participate in multilateral institutions see the institutions as a way of advancing what they view as their national interests and they see in many cases multi-lateral institution as the best way to do that.