Isolationism Quotes

• We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars: It is better to be here [in Europe] ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.

  Ronald Reagan

  War, Government, Europe

  Remarks on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, delivered 6 June 1984 in Pointe Du Hoc, Normandy, France

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• We must open our eyes and see that modern civilization has become so complex and the lives of civilized men so interwoven with thelives of other men in other countries as to make it impossible to be in this world and out of it.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Country, Eye, Men

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• The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.

  George Washington

  Political, Liberty, Connections

  George Washington, J. M. Williams (1800). “Washington's political legacies: To which is annexed an appendix, containing an account of his illness, death, and the national tributes of respect paid to his memory, with a biographical outline of his life and character”, p.90

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• America... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.

  John Quincy Adams

  Peace, America, Independence

  Friedrich von Gentz, John Quincy Adams, Richard Loss (1800). “The origin and principles of the American Revolution compared with the origin and principles of the French Revolution: a facsimile reproduction”, Academic Resources Corp

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• Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics, may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged imperfections of the peace.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Peace, Imperfection, Power Politics

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1950). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1944-1945, Volume 13”, p.498, Best Books on

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• If our Founding Fathers wanted us to care about the rest of the world, they wouldn't have declared their independence from it.

  Stephen Colbert

  Father, 4th Of July, Political

  "Stephen Colbert must be stopped!". edition.cnn.com. February 22, 2012.

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• Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Lonely, Loneliness, Men

  Thomas Carlyle (1870). “Past and Present”, p.381

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• A point has been reached where the peoples of the Americas must take cognizance of growing ill-will, of marked trends toward aggression, of increasing armaments, of shortening tempers--a situation which has in it many of the elements that lead to the tragedy of general war.... Peace is threatened by those who seek selfish power.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Selfish, War, Ill Will

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1938). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1936, Volume 5”, p.9, Best Books on

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• Isolation is the worst possible counselor.

  Miguel de Unamuno

  Isolation, Worst, Counselor

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• We are thus in the position of having to borrow from Europe to defend Europe, of having to borrow from China and Japan to defend Chinese and Japanese access to Gulf oil, and of having to borrow from Arab emirs, sultans and monarchs to make Iraq safe for democracy. We borrow from the nations we defend so that we may continue to defend them. To question this is an unpardonable heresy called 'isolationism.'

  Pat Buchanan

  Oil, Iraq, America

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• We must reject the idea of isolationism, . But that doesn't mean we should get involved in every civil war around the world.

  Dan Quayle

  War, Mean, Civilization

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• Hand in hand with nationalist economic isolationism, militarism struggles to maintain the sovereign state against the forward march of internationalism.

  Christian Lous Lange

  Struggle, Hands, Sovereign

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• [T]he isolationism of the Left stems from the conviction that America is bad for the rest of the world, whereas the isolationism of the Right is based on the belief that the rest of the world is bad for America.

  Norman Podhoretz

  America, World, Belief

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• Donald Trump very clearly said America first. That is a traditional right wing, but also very isolationist. That takes us back to the era of the 1920s, when there were immigration restrictions, and also to the isolationism before World War II.

  Sam Tanenhaus

  War, Wings, America

  "Trump's Inauguration Sets Up Uncertain Future For Conservative Movement". Interview with Robert Siegel, wxxinews.org. January 20, 2017.

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• Even if we never reach the stars by our own efforts, in the millions of years that lie ahead it is almost certain that the stars will come to us. Isolationism is neither a practical policy on the national or cosmic scale. And when the first contact with the outer universe is made, one would like to think that Mankind played an active and not merely a passive role-that we were the discoverers, not the discovered.

  Arthur C. Clarke

  Stars, Lying, Thinking

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• One must not allow oneself to skid down to isolationism and unbridled economic egoism. ... The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country. And the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

  Vladimir Putin

  Country, Honesty, Mistake

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• From a philosophical perspective, I want to fight off isolationism and protectionism, be it part of another voice out there that says, wait a minute, what matters to women in Afghanistan matters to America. An isolationist point of view says it doesn't matter. The articulation of "all life matters" helps frame the case that it does matter what happens to a woman in Afghanistan.

  George W. Bush

  Philosophical, Fighting, Views

  Source: www.texasmonthly.com

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• Roosevelt was the one who had the vision to change our policy from isolationism to world leadership. That was a terrific revolution. Our country's never been the same since.

  W. Averell Harriman

  Leadership, Country, Vision

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• Isolationism is over.

  Ralph Steadman

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• Interventionism is inextricable from the American idea. If the United States retreats into isolationism, it ceases to be itself ? a nation dedicated, however much it falls short, to a universalist ideal of freedom.

  Roger Cohen

  Fall, Ideas, United States

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• Our view is that economic isolationism is the wrong way to go. Vibrant, successful growing economies that advance the interests of their citizens engage the global economy. And, we're committed to engaging the global economy.

  John W. Snow

  Successful, Views, Citizens

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• There's a sense of entitlement and isolationism that I think is really dangerous, and the way globalization and technology have been used isn't really for the best.

  Rashida Jones

  Technology, Thinking, Way

  Interview with Sean O'Neal, www.avclub.com. April 8, 2009.

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• There's nothing wrong with being a cop. There's nothing wrong with being a white person. It's about where your heart is...We've got to get everyone beyond the xenophobic isolationism.

  Bobby Seale

  Heart, White, Cop

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• China has no desire to replace Western imperialism in Asia with an Oriental imperialism or isolationism of its own or anyone else.

  Chiang Kai-shek

  Desire, Asia, Imperialism

  "The voice of China; speeches of Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek between December 7, 1941, and October 10, 1943, including some recent messages to British leaders and the British people". Book by Hutchinson & co. ltd, 1944.

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• Ultraliberalism today translates into a whimpering isolationism in foreign policy, a mulish obstructionism in domestic policy.

  Spiro T. Agnew

  Today, Foreign Policy, Translate

  John R. Coyne, Spiro T. Agnew (1972). “The Impudent Snobs: Agnew Vs. the Intellectual Establishment”, New Rochelle, N.Y. : Arlington House

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