In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.

The cause of our difficulties in southeast Asia is not a deficiency of power but an excess of the wrong kind of power which results in a feeling of impotence when it fails to achieve its desired ends.

The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust our own government statements. I had no idea until then that you could not rely on them.

Power confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence.

Once imbued with the idea of a mission, a great nation easily assumes that it has the means as well as the duty to do God's work.

Law is the essential foundation of stability and order both within societies and in international relations.

Insofar as international law is observed, it provides us with stability and order and with a means of predicting the behavior of those with whom we have reciprocal legal obligations.

In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.

In our excessive involvement in the affairs of other countries, we are not only living off our assets and denying our own people the proper enjoyment of their resources; we are also denying the world the example of a free society enjoying its freedom to the fullest.

I'm sure that President Johnson would never have pursued the war in Vietnam if he'd ever had a Fulbright to Japan, or say Bangkok, or had any feeling for what these people are like and why they acted the way they did. He was completely ignorant.

I do not question the power of our weapons and the efficiency of our logistics; I cannot say these things delight me as the y seem to delight some of our officials, but they are certainly impressive.

As a conservative power, the United States has a vital interest in upholding and expanding the reign of law in international relations.

The citizen who criticizes his country is paying it an implied tribute.

The price of empire is America's soul, and that price is too high.

In the long course of history, having people who understand your thought is much greater security than another submarine.