Top 55 John Bolton Quotes

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

I’ve never attended any Tea Party functions.

You know, as somebody who writes op-eds and appears on the television, I appreciate as well as anybody that… there is a limit to what that accomplishes.

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

Don’t get me wrong: I would love to be president.

I am not a professional politician.

Well, I’m a libertarian conservative, so I believe in limited government/maximum individual freedom.

Maybe it’s my libertarian philosophy: but being in government is hard.

Every country has an aspect to it that rubs up people the wrong way.

A lot of people have said to me, ‘That’s a great idea, running for president. You’ll get booked for more speeches. You can write a book.’

When you have a regime that would be happier in the afterlife than in this life, this is not a regime that is subject to classic theories of deterrence.

I haven’t given up on the possibility that sweet reason will prevail.

There’s no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.

I’ve been in the government bureaucracy, I’ve practiced law, I’ve done a lot of different things.

If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, then almost certainly Saudi Arabia will do the same, as will Egypt, Turkey and perhaps others in the region.

There is no excuse for waste, fraud, and abuse in the Defense Department budget.

I don’t much believe in bumper sticker characterizations of foreign policy.

I am pro-American.

Just as the Security Council was largely irrelevant to the great struggle of the last half of the twentieth century – freedom against Communism – so too it is largely on the sidelines in our contemporary struggles against international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

There’s no religious test under the constitution. That’s what it says. Period.

Reform is not a one-night stand.

Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests.

I don’t think there is any good answer to the question why shouldn’t gays and lesbians who want to serve their country be allowed to do it.

We estimate that once Iraq acquires fissile material – whether from a foreign source or by securing the materials to build an indigenous fissile material capability – it could fabricate a nuclear weapon within one year.

My philosophy is not a bean-counting, accounting ‘look at this.’ It is a philosophy that smaller government is better government, and government that is closer to the people is best of all.

I think that, especially among conservatives, there’s a clear understanding that there are three legs to the conservative stool. There are the free-market economics conservatives, the social conservatives, and the national-security conservatives.

I don’t think I would have to run a campaign that’s financed like General Motors.

There is no such thing as the United Nations.

Politicians, like generals, have a tendency to fight the last war.

It’s very personal in its politics, very bitter and very negative.

Obviously, you make preparations before you engage in any meeting.

I don’t think Hamas will be satisfied simply ruling the Gaza Strip.

I’m obviously aware that people are quite focused on the economy rather than foreign policy issues, but that is something that should and can be altered as people see the nature of the threats around the world that we face.

I don’t do carrots.

There’s no religious test under the constitution. That’s what it says. Period.

You don’t need to spend tens of millions of dollars on political consultants to tell you what you think when you already know what you think.

There’s no doubt that Iran funds and supplies Hamas with weapons.

I think the International Criminal Court could be a threat to American security interests, because the prosecutor of the court has enormous discretion in going after war crimes. And the way the Statute of Rome is written, responsibility for war crimes can be taken all the way up the chain of command.

I think that Ronald Reagan had it right, being against abortion except in certain limited, defined circumstances.

The Nobel Peace Prize has become hopelessly politicized. I think it cheapens the prize itself.

Don’t get me wrong: I would love to be president.

The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.

Well, I’m a libertarian conservative, so I believe in limited government/maximum individual freedom.

I don’t think Hamas will be satisfied simply ruling the Gaza Strip.

I am all in favour of democracy in Iraq.

I would not run as a one-issue candidate. Anybody who does that is declaring himself to be marginal.

I don’t think there is any good answer to the question why shouldn’t gays and lesbians who want to serve their country be allowed to do it.

I’ve been in the government bureaucracy, I’ve practiced law, I’ve done a lot of different things.

I haven’t given up on the possibility that sweet reason will prevail.

I’ve been subject to how many security clearance procedures and I must say as irritating as some people may find them I think they are absolutely essential to making sure that people who work in sensitive positions in the national security field in our government are entirely loyal to the United States.

Obviously, you make preparations before you engage in any meeting.

There is no patriotic obligation to help advance the career of a politician who is otherwise pursuing interests that are fundamentally antithetical to your values. That’s not the call of patriotism.

I have decided not to run for president.

I’m not running around the world looking for ways to create hostilities.

I’ve been surrounded by some of the best economic minds in the country, and hopefully I’ve absorbed some of that.