Paul Wolfowitz Quotes

I like globalization; I want to say it works, but it is hard to say that when six hundred million people are slipping backwards.

We did not go to war in Afghanistan or in Iraq to, quote, 'impose democracy.' We went to war in both places because we saw those regimes as a threat to the United States.

Iraq has no history of ethnic conflict.

For the private sector to flourish, special privilege must give way to equal opportunity and equal risk for all.

I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Those who want to come and help are welcome. Those who come to interfere and destroy are not.

The American people are pretty impressive in their ability to keep after something if they think it is doable.

Sometimes corruption is slowed by shedding light into what was previously shadowed.

That sense of what happened in Europe in World War II has shaped a lot of my views.

I wish there were somebody I could be comfortable voting for. I might have to vote for Hillary Clinton, even though I have big reservations about her.

History is just littered with problems that were solved that were supposed to be impossible.

If a cat sits on a hot stove once, it will never sit on a cold one either.

The most striking thing is that even before Osama bin Laden was killed, he seemed largely irrelevant to the Arab Spring.

The use of force to liberate people is very different from the use of force to suppress or control them, or even to defeat them.

Jobs are a priority for every country. Doing more to improve regulation and help entrepreneurs is the key to creating jobs - and more growth.

People seem to forget that Saddam was the only leader in the world who praised the attacks of 9/11 as a good thing.

Firing employees, that's unfortunately part of doing business.

Poles understand perhaps better than anyone the consequences of making toothless warnings to brutal tyrants and terrorist regimes.

Look, I think the notion that theres a dogma or doctrine of foreign policy that gives you a textbook recipe for how to react to all situations is really nonsense.

It's a very bad thing when people exterminate other people, and people persecute minorities.

I mean, we're going to probably debate the Iraq war for at least as long as I'm alive.

Donald Trump seems to be unconcerned about the Russian aggression in Ukraine. By doing this he tells them that they can go ahead and do what they are doing. That is dangerous.

The Bernie Sanders phenomenon shows that it's not confined to Republicans. There is a general sentiment that America is on the wrong track.

The absence of Saddam is a huge weight off the Arab world.

One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war.

Public action should seek to expand the set of opportunities of those who have the least voice and fewest resources and capabilities.

I certainly think it's important to speak up and say how unacceptable Donald Trump is. I'm always more than willing to do that.

I think it's a mistake to rely too much on any one economic factor. It's why investors try to spread their portfolio round.

I think one has to say it's not just simply a matter of capturing people and holding them accountable, but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems...

I've met quite a few dictators up close and personal in my life.

I'm constantly asking for alternative views on most things that come to me.

I think, in the longer view of things, there is a very powerful pull in the direction of participatory government.

I told my father I had to try political science for a year. He thought I was throwing my life away.

For one thing I tend not to see myself in various moulds that people fit me into.

You cant win if youre chasing the wrong problem.

Every math curriculum in the world is based on the idea of hand-calculating, and most of what you're teaching is how to calculate. And I think the resistance to this is very variable.

To stay back from an intervention is not always a good solution.

Our security depends on having good relationships with our allies. Donald Trump mainly shows contempt for them.

Putin is behaving in a very dangerous way. And Donald Trump sounds as though he would simply sit back and allow that to go on. I worry about where that would end up.

People change their habits. I know Americans who don't go to Paris because they think it is too dangerous.

The only way you can be comfortable about Donald Trump's foreign policy, is to think he doesn't really mean anything he says.

Islamic State is mainly a direct result of the failure in Syria. That's where IS has grown. That's where IS spread from.

After a regime is removed, however, it is dangerous to leave a security vacuum.