Ronald Steel

“The end of the Cold War did not bring the end of history, but the end of a certain kind of history.”

“There is no more dangerous illusion than the belief that we can be both an empire and a republic.”

“Isolationism is the name we give to a foreign policy we don't like.”

“Power is not a possession but a relationship.”

“History is not a morality play.”

“The question is not whether we should be a great power, but what kind of a great power we should be.”

“A nation that cannot control its own borders is not a nation.”

“The American century was not a given; it was made. And it can be unmade.”

“The temptation to see the world in terms of good and evil is a constant one in American foreign policy.”

“Empires are not acquired by saints. And they are not maintained by saints.”

“We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws.”