Lee H. Hamilton Quotes

We cannot do everything in Africa, but doing nothing is not an option.

I can assure you, public service is a stimulating, proud and lively enterprise. It is not just a way of life, it is a way to live fully.

Democracy makes us articulate our views, defend them, and refine them.

Our democracy is not a product but a continual process. It is preserved not by monuments but deeds. Sometimes it needs refining; sometimes it needs amending; sometimes it needs defending. Always, it needs improving.

Aid can work where there is good governance, and usually fails where governments are unable or unwilling to commit aid to improve the lives of their people.

This nation is never finished. It has to be re-created in each generation.

But in the end our government usually - not unfailingly - is responsive to the people; and usually - not always - will try to do what is right.

President George W. Bush is the first American president to call openly for two-states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

One half of the world's people live on less than two dollars a day. This should concern our national security policy as well as our conscience.

Foreign aid is neither a failure nor a panacea. It is, instead, an important tool of American policy that can serve the interests of the United States and the world if wisely administered.

Foreign policy always has more force and punch when the nation speaks with one voice. To remain secure, prosperous, and free, the United States must continue to lead. That leadership requires a president and Congress working together to fashion a foreign policy with broad, bipartisan support. A foreign policy of unity is essential if the United States is to promote its values and interests effectively and help to build a safer, freer, and more prosperous world.

Events often move faster than our ability to comprehend them.

Addressing global resentment cannot be put off. If we do not learn to use our predominant power with great restraint, we will antagonize the world.

Protecting Americans from nuclear terrorism rises above politics.

Putting together a counter- terrorism policy, it's very easy to look at law enforcement or defense, military action or stopping the money flows or whatever, but the really difficult part is integrating all aspects of the policy, and I think she put a lot of emphasis on that.

Democracy fascinates me.

For decades the American people have had an addiction to oil and gas.

We should insist that governments receiving American aid live up to standards of accountability and transparency, and we should support countries that embrace market reforms, democracy, and the rule of law.

The U.S. should support the historic Gaza withdrawal as a first step toward a final settlement: a permanent Palestinian state in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank.

The temptations are great to simply retreat to the domain of private life and give up on our public problems.

So much of our attention is trained on the Middle East these days, but we cannot ignore East Asia.

The U.S has acquired reservoirs of goodwill around the globe over many years. But it is clear - from polling data and ample anecdotal evidence - that America is losing its allure in much of the world.

A likely source for terrorists seeking to buy or steal nuclear materials is the former Soviet Union.

China's ability to deliver nuclear warheads on American cities is expanding.

When you're talking with a person at this level of the government, at the very highest level, I think you have to be very discreet because he, President Clinton, is very aware that anything he says publicly can have a profound impact on American politics and on world politics.