If a caterpillar doesn't know its future has wings, it hardly experiences itself as land-bound.

International order is not an evolution; it is an imposition. It is the domination of one vision over others- in this case, the domination of liberal free market principles of economics, democratic principles of politics, and a peaceful international system over other visions that other nations and peoples may have. It will last only as long as those who favor it retain the capacity to defend it.

When you have a hammer, all problems start to look like nails.

The thing that I would say is that U.S. power is not eternal. I am not saying that it won't come to an end. Because it will.

Foreign policy is like hitting a baseball: if you fail 70 percent of the time, you go to the Hall of Fame.

It is true that I have known Straussians almost all my life. And the one thing I was taught about them from the earliest age is that they are wrong.

In my view, America has never had the opportunity to enter paradise. Europe enjoys the paradise it enjoys, in part because the United States provides the overall security that allows Europe to live in a system where military power is not a major issue.