Chuck Hagel quotes

I believe, and always have, that America must engage - not retreat - in the world. (Chuck Hagel)
I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president. View quote
Chuck Hagel
If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business. View quote
Chuck Hagel
If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender. View quote
Chuck Hagel
We are the adult power in the world. It is because of the United States, our action or inaction, that there will be a resolution here. View quote
Chuck Hagel
We are perceived as a nation at war with Muslims. This debilitating and dangerous perception must be reversed. View quote
Chuck Hagel
We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Peace comes through dealing with people. Peace doesn't come at the end of a bayonet or the end of a gun. View quote
Chuck Hagel
This is a ping-pong game with American lives. These young men and women that we put in Anbar province, in Iraq, in Baghdad, are not beans. They're real lives. And we better be damn sure we know what we're doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder. View quote
Chuck Hagel
The United Nations has a critical role to play in promoting stability, security, democracy, human rights, and economic development. The UN is as relevant today as at any time in its history, but it needs reform. (Chuck Hagel)
Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Institutions are imperfect. Governments surely are. People are. View quote
Chuck Hagel
No one individual vote, no one individual quote or no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs, or my record. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Nations, great nations have limitations. All nations have limitations. Even great powers have limitations. View quote
Chuck Hagel
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. View quote
Chuck Hagel
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. View quote
Chuck Hagel
My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead the international community to confront threats and challenges together, and that we must use all tools of American power to protect our citizens and our interests. View quote
Chuck Hagel
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. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Foreign policy is all about a universe of bad decisions, imperfect decisions; every situation is different. The dynamics, the atmospherics, the people, the pressures, the geopolitical realities shift. View quote
Chuck Hagel
I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. (Chuck Hagel)
Well, let's go back to the original intent of Social Security. It is an insurance contract. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster. View quote
Chuck Hagel
I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to LGBT military families. View quote
Chuck Hagel
Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice. View quote
Chuck Hagel