#Intervention Quotes

“We have provided capital here with a couple of institutions recently. The Federal government did that in the '30s for the RFC and I think there could well be a proper role for government in that.”

“The only thing better than "hands-on" experience is hands-off experience - enough experience to understand that some things will turn out better if left alone.”

“When government takes away options, it is bound to make some people worse off, even with intrinsicallly good intentions behind that government intervention.”

“Think about it: What the busybodies are saying is that third parties like themselves -- who are paying nothing to anybody -- should be determining how much somebody else should be paying those who work for them.”

“Because many of us make mistakes that can have bad consequences, some intellectuals believe that it is the role of government to intervene and make some of our decisions for us. From what galaxy government is going to hire creatures who do not make mistakes is a question they leave unanswered.”

“Beware the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry.”

“Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.”

“Major international interventions are doomed unless the US is directly or indirectly involved. But if American politicians, officials and servicemen are to be put at risk of arrest and prosecution, the United States will be most reluctant to act in order to curb aggression or prevent genocide. So the effect of the court may well be to diminish, not increase, the numbers of (in the words of the UN Secretary General) 'innocents of distant wars and conflicts'.”

“When you stop a dictator, there are always risks. But there are greater risks in not stopping a dictator.”

“We cannot reform the world.... Uncle Sugar is as dangerous a role for us to play as Uncle Shylock.”

“When frying small fish, disturb them little.”

“There are lots of countries that are having these kinds of internal civil wars in other parts of the world and nobody is talking about intervening.”

“When you decide to get involved in a military operation in a place like Syria, you've got to be prepared, as we learned from Iraq and Afghanistan, to become the government, and I'm not sure any country, either the United States or I don't hear of anyone else, who's willing to take on that responsibility.”

“Men have to take more responsibility. Men have to intervene”

“We are not going to be able to rebuild Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy.”

“Whenever we attempt to mend the scheme of Providence and to interfere in the Government of the world, we had need be very circumspect lest we do more harm than good.”

“We can rattle our sabers all we want but, realistically, we don't have troops for an invasion [Iran] and surgical strikes aren't going to work.”

“We don't have this huge footprint, we are less likely to be targeted as, you know, occupiers [in Afghanistan and Iraq].”

“There's no reason why Americans should die when Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country.”

“Those who in quarrels interpose, must often wipe a bloody nose.”