Quotes About National Interests

#1. It is not national interests we are upholding
we claim that the interests of socialism, the interests of world socialism, rank higher than national interests, higher than the interests of the state. We are defenders of the socialist fatherland.

Vladimir Lenin

#2. Talk about national interests: When we went in with Operation Iraqi Freedom, some of our allies, Turkey, for example, would not let us through. How much trouble did that cause us, because we were not able to go into Iraq through Turkey?

Roger Wicker

#3. The predominant yardstick of your government is not human rights but national interests.

Breyten Breytenbach

#4. A government, the constitution of which renders it unfit to be trusted with all the powers which a free people ought to delegate to any government, would be an unsafe and improper depositary of the NATIONAL INTERESTS.

Alexander Hamilton

#5. We are ready to engage in international co-operation against terrorism with a view to safeguarding national interests and regional security and stability.

Li Peng

#6. For some reason, our media are fascinated by stories that appear to harm American National interests.

Bob Tyrrell

#7. Accepting money from the federal government to conduct research places academic inquiry in the service of national interests.

Jill Lepore

#8. Pakistan has not recognized Israel ... any such decision would be taken in supreme national interests after due consultation of the parliament.

Shaukat Aziz

#9. I remain committed to a balanced policy, which will protect our national interests both on our eastern border - I mean with Russia - and of course with the European Union.

Viktor Yanukovych

#10. Well, Australians should speak for the national interests of Australia, and whatever role former Australian prime ministers may have, one of the things you do is speak frankly about the country as you see the country's best interests, you know?

Paul Keating

#11. I simply cannot see how denying chemotherapy treatment for Palestinian children increases Israel's security or advances U.S. national interests.

Lois Capps

#12. Patriotism, red hot, is compatible with the existence of a neglect of national interests, a dishonesty, a cold indifference to the suffering of millions. Patriotism is largely pride, and very largely combativeness. Patriotism generally has a chip on its shoulder.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

#13. Investing in women's lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations - and consequently in our own long-term national interests.

Liya Kebede

#14. Bush himself came into office with no curiosity about the world, only a suspicion that his predecessor had entangled America in far too many obscure places of no importance to national interests. Wolfowitz

George Packer

#15. Do not compromise on national security for purely budgetary reasons. The world is dangerous, and we must always be prepared for anything that might threaten our national interests and security.

Sanford Bishop

#16. All of Britain's aid is spent in Britain's national interests, and some of it contributes to Britain's national security as well.

Andrew Mitchell

#17. War implies a lack of comprehension of mutual national interests; it means the undermining and even the end of culture.

Carlos Saavedra Lamas

#18. We must recognize that as the dominant power in the world we have a special responsibility. In addition to protecting our national interests, we must take the leadership in protecting the common interests of humanity.

George Soros

#19. We really believe our national interests are identical with European interests.

Gerhard Schroder

#20. If you look at military and intelligence positions from the 1950s, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been against American national interests.

Abdallah II Of Jordan

#21. So, the point I'm making is, we are not going to cut spending in Washington if we think it's the job of every congressman and senator is to pave local parking lots and build local sewer plants. These parochial interests are getting in the way of the national interests.

Jim DeMint

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

John Bolton

#23. In a situation where many national leaders do the same thing and look out for national interests, and with an issue like global warming, you're likely to get no solution, so I think you have to have some kind of ethical trump on some of those issues.

Peter Singer

#24. We in the United States are very often - since we are a democracy and we have national interests, we've often made the mistake that a democracy has to adopt America's interests, and that is a contradiction because a democracy basically is people deciding what their interests are.

George Soros

#25. I think that all countries that participate in multilateral institutions see the institutions as a way of advancing what they view as their national interests and they see in many cases multi-lateral institution as the best way to do that.

Paul Wolfowitz

#26. Going to war is a serious matter. And it should be done very carefully and deliberately with clear national interests at stake before the United States or our Commander-in-Chief acts.

Joe Pitts

#27. There is no regard for human lives, or local national interests. It is because the West, despite its hypocritical rhetoric (political correctness) does not really consider non-whites and non-Christians as human beings.

Andre Vltchek

#28. You know, in the realm of diplomacy, we are all bound to defend and promote our respective national interests. But, there is also such a thing as common interests: matters where our interests converge rather than diverge, compelling us to work together rather than against one another.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

#29. Diplomacy has been exhausted .. Continued instability in the Balkans threatens important U.S. national interests,.

Tom Daschle

#30. Today, it is imperative to end this hysteria, to refute the rhetoric of the Cold War and to accept the obvious fact: Russia is an independent, active participant in international affairs. Like other countries, it has its own national interests that need to be taken into account and respected.

Vladimir Putin

#31. The capability of negotiating ... is something that means you not only have to understand fully what you believe and what your national interests are but in order to be a really good negotiator, you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.

Madeleine Albright

#32. When the commander-in-chief sends Americans to fight and die, it should be only to protect our vital national interests, not for his own personal, political gain.

Kathleen Troia McFarland

#33. There's no question that the US is engaged in economic spying. If there's information at Siemens that they think would be beneficial to the national interests, not the national security of the United States, they'll go after that information and they'll take it.

Edward Snowden

#34. How can a country that is impoverished, humiliated and beaten defend its national interests?

Ivica Dacic

#35. The corporation was originally conceived as a public institution whose purpose was to serve national interests and advance the public good.

Joel Bakan

#36. If we topple [Bashar] Assad, the result will be ISIS will take over Syria, and it will worsen U.S. national security interests.

Ted Cruz

#37. President Obama, like every other leader on Earth, is still going to be looking out for national and economic interests. States don't cease to be states overnight just because they get a great visionary as their new president.

Samantha Power

#38. My fundamental interests are to preserve the good name and standing of this Australian Labor Party and to act in the national interest on behalf of the Australian Government.

Kevin Rudd

#39. Palestine must be built up without violating the legitimate interests of the Arabs.. Palestine is not Rhodesia ... 600,0000 Arabs live there, who before the sense of justice of the world have exactly the same rights to their homes as we have to our National Home.

Chaim Weizmann

#40. The United States should ... avoid unilateral export controls and controls on technology widely available in world markets. Unilateral controls penalize U.S. exporters without advancing U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.

William J. Clinton

#41. We want to determine whether he understands the inherent limits that make an unelected Judiciary inferior to Congress or the President in making policy judgments. That, for example, a judge will never be in the best position to know what is in the national security interests of our country.

Alberto Gonzales

#42. National languages are all huge systems of vested interests which sullenly resist critical inquiry.

Edward Sapir

#43. The Federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular, to the state legislatures.

James Madison

#44. Congress has the responsibility to ensure that any international trade agreement entered into by the United States must serve the national interest, not merely the interests of those crafting the proposal in secret.

Jeff Sessions

#45. Human dignity is independent of national borders. We must always defend the interests of the poor and the persecuted in other countries.

Kjell Magne Bondevik

#46. I have strong interests in supporting sport, primarily football, and also in developing cultural relationships within national communities and their diasporas, with special reference to Ethiopia.

Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi

#47. The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security.

Dennis C. Blair

#48. From time to time, the irresponsible acts of the Cuban government remind us that this is far more than about the freedom of one country, but it really is about the stability and security of the region and the national security interests of the United States.

Mel Martinez

#49. And when we view a flag, which to the eye is beautiful, and to contemplate its rise and origin inspires a sensation of sublime delight, our national honor must unite with our interests to prevent injury to the one, or insult to the other.

Thomas Paine

#50. I believe we should continue to have a partnership of national states each retaining the right to protect its vital interests, but developing more effectively than at present the habit of working together.

Margaret Thatcher

#51. I think that's the main threat in Bosnia and Rwanda and Zaire. There doesn't seem to be much willingness to engage these problems unless they directly affect national security interests.

John Pomfret

#52. A sense of messianic purpose makes the national interest almost indistinguishable from the political interests of the president.

Ron Suskind

#53. It is in the national interest to have the Flying Kangaroo. It's in the interests of our tourism industry. It's in the interests of jobs here in Australia.

Anthony Albanese

#54. THE WORLD HAS BECOME more and more interdependent, so that a lasting peace on the national, regional, and global levels is possible only if we take the interests of all people into account.

Dalai Lama XIV

#55. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.

Smedley Butler

#56. After September 11, the European governments have completely failed. They are incapable of seeing beyond their own national scope of interests.

Jurgen Habermas

#57. The ongoing migration of persons to the United States in violation of our laws is a serious national problem detrimental to the interests of the United States.

Ronald Reagan

#58. A healthy and fully functioning society must allocate its resources among a variety of competing interests, all of which are more or less valid but none of which should take precedence over national security.

Herman Kahn

#59. Today's meeting was extremely important and brought exceptional results, ... The talks have shown that the long-term national and geopolitical interests of Russia and India coincide.

Vladimir Putin

#60. In China, national priorities are established by the Government and then funded by the state; in India, priorities emerge from seemingly endless discussions and arguments amongst myriad interests, and funds have to be found where they might.

Shashi Tharoor

#61. We can't build a safer world with honorable intentions and good will alone. Achieving the fundamental goals our nation seeks in world affairs - peace, human rights, economics progress national independence and international stability - means supporting our friends and defending our interests.

Ronald Reagan

#62. The problem we have had on the budget all along is a lack of adult supervision on the part of the White House. You can't blame members of Congress for looking out for their parochial interests. It is the president's responsibility to look out for the national interest.

Bruce Bartlett

#63. We pay a price when special interests win out over the collective national interest.

Chris Christie

#64. First, we must continually reaffirm the principle that the security of the United States is not, and should never be, a partisan matter. The United States can best defend its national security interests abroad by uniting behind a bipartisan security policy at home.

William Cohen

#65. Any military force should be dictated by the vital national security interests of the United States. And if and when we use force, we should use overwhelming force for a clearly stated objective. And then when we're done, we should get the heck out.

Ted Cruz

#66. They're still a subject beholden to special interests, but at least they have a national constituency. At least they have to think about national majorities.

Mark Shields

#67. it is easier to induce national governments to discriminate against foreign producers than to defend the interests of domestic consumers

George W. Stocking

#68. It's true that I run a multi-national group but I have no interests in India. So please tell me, what should my identity be?

Lakshmi Mittal

#69. I believe our foreign assistance should be scrutinized, should be debated, and that we should strike the right balance, but in all cases the foreign assistance that we provide around the world should be used to further our national security interests.

John Sununu

#70. Milosevic did not die in The Hague - he was killed in The Hague. But, he had managed to defend the national and state interests of Serbia and the Serb people, and everybody should be grateful to him for that.

Ivica Dacic

#71. Last year, customs officials screened only five percent of the 11 million cargo containers entering the United States. That rate is both unacceptable and dangerous to our national and economic interests.

Allyson Schwartz

#72. Whatever the history of U.S. intervention in Iraq, our priorities now should be to protect our people and defend our national security interests, not to try to resolve an intractable religious divide some 1,500 years in the making.

Ted Cruz

#73. Thus, he and his gun had been sent to do the deed, in the interests of national security, which seemed to be a catchall to justify any death, anywhere, any time.

David Baldacci

#74. The development of the Internet has posed new challenges to national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Xi Jinping

#75. What we have to do is to find a solution that the interests of the national teams are respecting the interests of the clubs. And also the clubs they shall respect the interests and the aspirations of national teams.

Sepp Blatter

#76. The national interest is predetermined by geopolitics or the history of a country. Important political leaders never just followed their interests - they were concerned about the interests of their people.

Joseph Nye

#77. If you look at the history of broadcasting, what you find is the National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association whose mission is to protect the interests of the commercial broadcasters.

Robert McChesney

#78. It's time to put the national interest before the interests of Wall Street.

Martin O'Malley

#79. And when they do spin out of control there are important ramifications that affect America, not just its direct national interest but its broader interests as a nation which has thought of itself as a beacon to other nations, of freedom, liberty, democracy, whatever.

John Pomfret

#80. I wanted to put the national interest before my personal interests.

Michael Gove