The American political system is so porous, it's so open, it's so frustrating for those who are trying to make policy.

The main division in the world is between democratic and undemocratic countries.

To call the American role in the world imperial was, for many who did so, a way of asserting that the United States was misusing its power beyond its borders and, in so doing, subverting its founding political principles within them.

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.

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

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.

One thing worse than an America that is too strong, the world will learn, is an America that is too weak.