Top 53 Chuck Hagel Quotes
#1. By nominating Chuck Hagel to be his Defense secretary, President Obama is putting forward an aloof contrarian who doesn't suffer fools - a striving politician who considers himself above politics.
Ron Fournier
#2. It's a little strange when you have never been to war, and you eye-roll about a guy who's got shrapnel still in his body, as Chuck Hagel does.
Bill Maher
#3. And this - this board was - was impanelled in 1951. And it's gone through ups and downs in how the secretaries have used it. But I have put a premium on that advisory board.
Chuck Hagel
#4. Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq.
Chuck Hagel
#5. No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record.
Chuck Hagel
#6. The United Nations has a critical role to play in promoting stability, security, democracy, human rights, and economic development. The UN is as relevant today as at any time in its history, but it needs reform.
Chuck Hagel
#7. Desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away. And that's where the Palestinians are today.
Chuck Hagel
#8. If America is to succeed in responding to these 21st Century challenges, our political system cannot continue to bog down in the mire of partisan gamesmanship.
Chuck Hagel
#9. The Israeli people must be free to live in peace and security.
Chuck Hagel
#10. We live in a world where there are dangerous people, there are bad people.
Chuck Hagel
#11. The United States can't impose democracies. We can't impose our will. The Russians found that out in Afghanistan.
Chuck Hagel
#12. This current government in Iraq has never fulfilled the commitments it made to form a unity government with the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia. We have worked hard with them within the confines of our ability to do that but we can't dictate to them.
Chuck Hagel
#13. I'm a United States senator. I'm not an Israeli senator.
Chuck Hagel
#14. Well, let's go back to the original intent of Social Security. It is an insurance contract.
Chuck Hagel
#15. When you're dealing in situations that are uncontrollable and combustible, you try to stabilize the situation as quickly as you can and then work toward and work out toward democratic reform.
Chuck Hagel
#16. I believe, and always have, that America must engage - not retreat - in the world.
Chuck Hagel
#17. Our alliances should be understood as a means to expand our influence, not as a constraint on our power. The expansion of democracy and freedom in the world should be a shared interest and value with all nations.
Chuck Hagel
#18. There are always consequences to actions that you take. There are consequences to inaction. And thinking through, asking the questions, "Well, then what happens? What comes next?" is critically important.
Chuck Hagel
#19. No border that touches Israel is always secure.
Chuck Hagel
#20. Foreign policy will require a strategic agility that, whenever possible, gets ahead of problems, strengthens U.S. security and alliances, and promotes American interests and credibility.
Chuck Hagel
#22. Foreign policy is all about a universe of bad decisions, imperfect decisions; every situation is different. The dynamics, the atmospherics, the people, the pressures, the geopolitical realities shift.
Chuck Hagel
#23. There has to be a reason and objective (to air strikes). What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political conversation?
Chuck Hagel
#24. Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.
Chuck Hagel
#25. I have never believed you go to war in Iraq, you go to war in Afghanistan, and believe that you can deal with those battlefields, those countries, in microcosms, or narrow channels.
Chuck Hagel
#26. Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.
Chuck Hagel
#27. Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.
Chuck Hagel
#28. People are not trying to get into China, they're trying to get out of China. The United States is the only great country where people are trying to get into to this country for obvious reasons.
Chuck Hagel
#29. I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.
Chuck Hagel
#30. The recent wave of Taliban attacks has made clear that the international community must not waiver in its support for a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan.
Chuck Hagel
#31. Institutions are imperfect. Governments surely are. People are.
Chuck Hagel
#32. The twenty first century will require a re-affirmation and re-definition of our alliances and international organisations.
Chuck Hagel
#33. It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out.
Chuck Hagel
#34. My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead the international community to confront threats and challenges together, and that we must use all tools of American power to protect our citizens and our interests.
Chuck Hagel
#35. Too often in Washington we tend to see foreign policy as an abstraction, with little understanding of what we are committing our country to: the complications and consequences of endeavors.
Chuck Hagel
#36. I would not trade America's position in the world - our ledger, our debts and assets - for any country in the world. There isn't a country in the world even close to America.
Chuck Hagel
#37. I'm not saying my idea is the one and only idea. We should have other ideas, but the president has not laid down a specific plan as to how he's going to get us to solvency. I do that.
Chuck Hagel
#38. Our foreign policy needs to support our energy, economic, defense and domestic policies. It all falls within the arch of national interest. There will be windows of opportunity, but they will open and close quickly.
Chuck Hagel
#39. Iraq was a war of choice, like Vietnam.
Chuck Hagel
#40. Deserves some consideration, and I think that should have been done right from the beginning.
Chuck Hagel
#42. History has shown that a country most effectively speaks with one voice. When nationally elected officials work together, build consensus, and provide leadership, the American people will follow.
Chuck Hagel
#43. When I came to the Senate in 1997, the world was being redefined by forces no single country controlled or understood. The implosion of the Soviet Union and a historic diffusion of economic and geopolitical power created new influences and established new global power centers - and new threats.
Chuck Hagel
#44. Well, no American wants to in any way hurt our capabilities to national defense, but that doesn't mean an unlimited amount of money, and a blank check for anything they want at any time, for any purpose. Not at all.
Chuck Hagel
#45. (The) chain of command has failed over the years, obviously, for a lot of reasons.
Chuck Hagel
#46. If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.
Chuck Hagel
#47. I'm a supporter of Israel, always have been.
Chuck Hagel
#48. You can't just drop the 82nd Airborne into Baghdad and it will all be over.
Chuck Hagel
#49. Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning.
Chuck Hagel
#50. I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to LGBT military families.
Chuck Hagel
#51. Nations, great nations have limitations. All nations have limitations. Even great powers have limitations.
Chuck Hagel
#52. Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.
Chuck Hagel
#53. Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.
Chuck Hagel
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