What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system

The reason prophets are so rarely honored in their own country is that their role is to transcend the limits of their contemporaries' experience and imagination. They achieve recognition only when their vision has been turned into experience - in short, when it is too late to benefit from their foresight.

Every civilization that has ever existed has ultimately collapsed.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

Our concern for human rights comes to the fore when there are gross violations of human decencies. Then other countries, including China, must recognize that this affects the American attitude towards their country. But towards what precise institutions will it evolve? I think we ought to leave something to history.

America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.

Accept everything about yourself - I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end - no apologies, no regrets.