Chuck Hagel Quotes

History has shown that a country most effectively speaks with one voice. When nationally elected officials work together, build consensus, and provide leadership, the American people will follow.

If America is to succeed in responding to these 21st Century challenges, our political system cannot continue to bog down in the mire of partisan gamesmanship.

Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning.

You can't just drop the 82nd Airborne into Baghdad and it will all be over.

Foreign policy will require a strategic agility that, whenever possible, gets ahead of problems, strengthens U.S. security and alliances, and promotes American interests and credibility.

Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.

Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.

I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president.

Nations, great nations have limitations. All nations have limitations. Even great powers have limitations.

And this - this board was - was impanelled in 1951. And it's gone through ups and downs in how the secretaries have used it. But I have put a premium on that advisory board.

The twenty first century will require a re-affirmation and re-definition of our alliances and international organisations.

No one person leads alone - can't do it, it's impossible. It doesn't make any sense. You need a team.

Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun.

Well, let's go back to the original intent of Social Security. It is an insurance contract.

We live in a world where there are dangerous people, there are bad people.

I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism.

I believe, and always have, that America must engage - not retreat - in the world.

Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.

I’m a United States senator. I’m not an Israeli senator.

I don't get into the book-telling business of conversations I have with the president. That's not my style, and I don't think that's a responsible thing to do.

There has to be a reason and objective (to air strikes). What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political conversation?

The recent wave of Taliban attacks has made clear that the international community must not waiver in its support for a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan.

Iraq was a war of choice, like Vietnam.

(The) chain of command has failed over the years, obviously, for a lot of reasons.

I would not trade America's position in the world - our ledger, our debts and assets - for any country in the world. There isn't a country in the world even close to America.

Institutions are imperfect. Governments surely are. People are.

The United States can't impose democracies. We can't impose our will. The Russians found that out in Afghanistan.

Palestinians caged up like animals.

I'm a supporter of Israel, always have been.

I have never believed you go to war in Iraq, you go to war in Afghanistan, and believe that you can deal with those battlefields, those countries, in microcosms, or narrow channels.

Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.

You can have all the capabilities; if you don't have the quality people, you don't have much.

This is a complicated time to govern in the world today because of so much going on and it's coming at us at such an unprecedented rate.

I think this is the biggest lesson a president or any of us who has responsibility to govern have to learn: There are always consequences to actions that you take. There are consequences to inaction.

Assad must go. He's lost the legitimacy to govern.

We must prepare for everything.

No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record.

This is eventually how Syria will be resolved - through a political settlement.

If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.

I'm not saying my idea is the one and only idea. We should have other ideas, but the president has not laid down a specific plan as to how he's going to get us to solvency. I do that.

It is easy to get into war, not so easy to get out.

No border that touches Israel is always secure.

The Israeli people must be free to live in peace and security.

[Sheehan] deserves some consideration, and I think that should have been done right from the beginning.

There's always a balance, I think, any administration has to find in not just the military but in any agency of government.

Desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away. And that's where the Palestinians are today.

I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to LGBT military families.

Closing Guantanamo Bay is not a military solution. The closing of that prison, which I support, I supported it when I was in the Senate, requires more than just a military dimension.