Zbigniew Brzezinski Quotes

American - Politician March 28, 1928 - May 26, 2017

Anniversaries are like birthdays: occasions to celebrate and to think ahead, usually among friends with whom one shares not only the past but also the future. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Think, Like, Celebrate

You go to Paris, or you go to Portugal, you go to Poland, and you ask, 'Who are you people?' They'll tell you, we're Portuguese, we're Spanish, we're Polish. Who are the people that are really European? The people in Brussels, in the E.U. bureaucracy. Europe has not been able to move to the level of patriotic identification with the concept. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Patriotic, Been, Portugal

Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions, and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Reason, Emotions, Want

Pakistan's political instability is its greatest vulnerability, and a decline in U.S. power would reduce America's ability to aid Pakistan's consolidation and development. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Reduce, Development

What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War? Zbigniew Brzezinski

Some, Liberation, War

Commitment and credibility go hand in hand. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Go, Commitment, Credibility

The culture of self-gratification and deregulation that began during the Clinton years and continued under President George W. Bush led to the bursting of one stock market bubble at the turn of the century and a full-scale financial crash less than a decade later. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Decade, Bush, Financial

We can't have an intelligent foreign policy unless we have an intelligent public, because we're a democracy. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Because, Public, Unless

Peace between Israel and Palestine would be a giant step toward greater regional stability, and it would finally let both Israelis and Palestinians benefit from the Middle East's growing wealth. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Middle, Wealth, Regional

There's no point considering something which is very unrealistic. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Which, Very, Unrealistic

Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Leading, Manner, Look

Americans must place greater emphasis on the more subtle dimensions of national power, such as innovation, education, the balance of force and diplomacy, and the quality of political leadership. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Innovation, Education, More

We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Vietnam War, Now, Vietnam

America's victory in the Cold War was not without painful social costs. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Costs, Social, Victory

We cannot have that relationship if we only dictate or threaten and condemn those who disagree. Zbigniew Brzezinski

We Cannot, Threaten, Only

I don't feel I was 'born American,' but my homeland was denied to me after the end of World War II, and I craved something I could identify with. When I became a student at Harvard in the 1950s, America very quickly filled the vacuum. I felt I was American, but I think it's more revealing of America how quickly others here accepted me. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Here, Became, Very

Americans don't learn about the world; they don't study world history, other than American history in a very one-sided fashion, and they don't study geography. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Very, Study, Other

A waning United States would likely be more nationalistic, more defensive about its national identity, more paranoid about its homeland security, and less willing to sacrifice resources for the sake of others' development. Zbigniew Brzezinski

United States, Likely

Sometimes in international politics, the better part of wisdom is to defer dangers rather than try to eliminate them altogether instantly. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Politics, Defer, Dangers

War on terrorism defines the central preoccupation of the United States in the world today, and it does reflect in my view a rather narrow and extremist vision of foreign policy of the world's first superpower, of a great democracy, with genuinely idealistic traditions. Zbigniew Brzezinski

United, Rather, Genuinely

The war of choice in Iraq could never have gained the congressional support it got without the psychological linkage between the shock of 9/11 and the postulated existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Congressional, Could, Shock

Hard power makes sense under some circumstances. But there's not a universal solution to global problems. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Some, Circumstances, Makes

We all have the right to comment about each other. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Other, About, Comment

There may be circumstances in which damaging our relationship with countries over human rights is counterproductive and the benefits to human rights may be very small because of our limited capacity to enforce our stance. That was the dilemma the United States faced after Tiananmen Square. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Benefits, Small, Very

I realise that in an electoral campaign, you don't want to antagonise large groups which are highly motivated. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Motivated, Which, Large

Neither the United States nor Israel has the capacity to impose a unilateral solution in the Middle East. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Middle, United States

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