John Bolton

“I'm not running around the world looking for ways to create hostilities.”

“I am not a neoconservative.”

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

“I think that, especially among conservatives, there's a clear understanding that there are three legs to the conservative stool. There are the free-market economics conservatives, the social conservatives, and the national-security conservatives.”

“Don't get me wrong: I would love to be president.”

“I'm a conservative Republican. I have been since I was 15 years old and participated in the 'Goldwater for President' campaign in 1964.”

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

“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.”

“The Nobel Peace Prize has become hopelessly politicized. I think it cheapens the prize itself.”

“The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.”

“There's no doubt that Iran funds and supplies Hamas with weapons.”

“I don't do carrots.”

“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.'”

“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.”

“I am not a professional politician.”

“I would not run as a one-issue candidate. Anybody who does that is declaring himself to be marginal.”

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

“I've never attended any Tea Party functions.”

“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.”