Quotes By John Bolton

Well, you could take several stories off the buildings of most U.S. government agencies and we'd all probably be better for it too.

In the United States, there is a broadly shared view that the U.N. is one of many potential instruments to advance U.S. issues, and we have to decide whether a particular issue is best done through the U.N. or best done through some other mechanism.

People don't like to talk about victory and defeat anymore.

Every country has an aspect to it that rubs up people the wrong way.

When you have a regime that would be happier in the afterlife than in this life, this is not a regime that is subject to classic theories of deterrence.

I have decided not to run for president.

I'm obviously aware that people are quite focused on the economy rather than foreign policy issues, but that is something that should and can be altered as people see the nature of the threats around the world that we face.

Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests.

My philosophy is not a bean-counting, accounting 'look at this.' It is a philosophy that smaller government is better government, and government that is closer to the people is best of all.

If Iran obtains nuclear weapons, then almost certainly Saudi Arabia will do the same, as will Egypt, Turkey and perhaps others in the region.

A lot of people have said to me, 'That's a great idea, running for president. You'll get booked for more speeches. You can write a book.'

Everybody pursues their national interests. The only one who gets blamed for it is the United States.

I haven't given up on the possibility that sweet reason will prevail.

I don't much believe in bumper sticker characterizations of foreign policy.

I think the International Criminal Court could be a threat to American security interests, because the prosecutor of the court has enormous discretion in going after war crimes. And the way the Statute of Rome is written, responsibility for war crimes can be taken all the way up the chain of command.

I am not a professional politician.

I've been in the government bureaucracy, I've practiced law, I've done a lot of different things.

I want to make sure that, not only in the Republican Party but in the body politic as a whole, people are aware of threats that remain to the United States.

We estimate that once Iraq acquires fissile material - whether from a foreign source or by securing the materials to build an indigenous fissile material capability - it could fabricate a nuclear weapon within one year.

There is no excuse for waste, fraud, and abuse in the Defense Department budget.

There's no religious test under the constitution. That's what it says. Period.

I don't think I would have to run a campaign that's financed like General Motors.

There is no patriotic obligation to help advance the career of a politician who is otherwise pursuing interests that are fundamentally antithetical to your values. That's not the call of patriotism.

It's not natural disasters that are to blame for the deprivation of the North Korean people, but the failed policies of Kim Jong Il.

I've been subject to how many security clearance procedures and I must say as irritating as some people may find them I think they are absolutely essential to making sure that people who work in sensitive positions in the national security field in our government are entirely loyal to the United States.

North Korea is going to get away with keeping its nuclear weapons.

You know, as somebody who writes op-eds and appears on the television, I appreciate as well as anybody that... there is a limit to what that accomplishes.

My priority is to give the United States the kind of influence it should have.