Chuck Hagel

“Nations, great nations have limitations. All nations have limitations. Even great powers have limitations.”

“No border that touches Israel is always secure.”

“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.”

“The Israeli people must be free to live in peace and security.”

“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.”

“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.”

“It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out.”

“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.”

“Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.”

“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.”

“Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.”

“Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.”

“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.”