The values, the programs, the formula, the determination, and the patriotism responsible for America's past success are still here to be tapped.

Inequality of any kind, once considered a normal, natural part of human existence, came to be seen in the course of the twentieth century as increasingly illegitimate.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, were spectacular, riveting, grim, costly and searing. The shock that they caused reverberated throughout the world. What happened in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania ended the lives of thousands of people and changed the lives of many more. But they did not change the world.

All policy is a matter of gains and losses, upsides and downsides.

The windfall of great riches can, if mismanaged, make things worse, not better, for the recipients.

Let me remind you all that the first task of American foreign policy is to reduce threats to the United States.

American influence in the world is certainly considerable, but the United States does not control, directly or indirectly, the politics and economics of other societies, as empires have always done, save for a few special cases that turn out to be the exceptions that prove the rule.