Open political and economic systems have been gaining ground and there's a good reason for it. They work better.

I think the idea that you would do everything you can to prevent what is coming at you by way of something very disruptive - a 9/11 - it's a no-brainer.

Before you get mugged by reality, take out an insurance policy. It's the Reagan way.

Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.

I learned in business that you had to be very careful when you told somebody that's working for you to do something, because the chances were very high he'd do it. In government, you don't have to worry about that.

Increasingly, the state system has been eroding. Terrorists have exploited this weakness by burrowing into the state system in order to attack it.

It was an attempt to stick the Congress's finger in King Hussein's eye.