Quotes from Zbigniew Brzezinski

We should seek to cooperate with Europe, not to divide Europe to a fictitious new and a fictitious old.

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.

Let's cooperate and challenge the administration to cooperate with us because within the administration there are also moderates and people who are not fully comfortable with the tendencies that have prevailed in recent times.

The 'war on terror' has created a culture of fear in America.

Constant reference to a 'war on terror' did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear.

Terrorism cannot be isolated from its political, historical, and even social context.

Missing from much of the public debate is discussion of the simple fact that lurking behind every terroristic act is a specific political antecedent. That does not justify either the perpetrator or his political cause. Nonetheless, the fact is that almost all terrorist activity originates from some political conflict and is sustained by it as well.

We need to ask who is the enemy, and the enemies are terrorists.

Not to mention the fact that of course terrorists hate freedom. I think they do hate. But believe me, I don't think they sit there abstractly hating freedom.

Because America is a democracy, public support for presidential foreign-policy decisions is essential.

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.

We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.

Rushing to war is not a wise course of action.

The fact of the matter is the Arab elites are more inclined to accommodate our wishes because of certain overlapping interests that are often financial. That is not the case with the Arab masses.

The legitimacy of the leadership depends on what that country thinks of its leaders.

Benchmarks are targets that have to be fulfilled. They cannot be fulfilled in an indefinite period of time, so there are timetables in benchmarks.

A Russia that gradually begins to gravitate toward the West will also be a Russia that ceases to disrupt the international system.

Commitment and credibility go hand in hand.

Yes, ISIS is a threat. It's more than a nuisance. It's also in many respects criminal violence. But it isn't, in my view, a central strategic issue facing humanity.

We defended our allies in Europe for 40 years during the worst days of the Cold War - very threatening days of the Cold War - and nothing happened. So deterrence does work.

Bipartisanship helps to avoid extremes and imbalances. It causes compromises and accommodations. So let's cooperate.

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.

I think it is important to ask ourselves as citizens, not as Democrats attacking the administration, but as citizens, whether a world power can really provide global leadership on the basis of fear and anxiety?

For people of different faiths to coexist, it's going to take maturity, wisdom, and patience. All of which come, eventually, with tolerance. And it's a process of time.