Jeane Kirkpatrick Quotes

18 Sourced Quotes

Americans need to face the truth about themselves, no matter how pleasant it is.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Cultural constraints condition and limit our choices, shaping our characters with their imperatives.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
It was not malaise we suffered from; it was Jimmy Carter - and Walter Mondale.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Tyranny and anarchy are alike incompatible with freedom, security, and the enjoyment of opportunity.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
When the San Francisco Democrats treat foreign affairs as an afterthought, as they did, they behaved less like a dove or a hawk than like an ostrich - convinced it could shut out the world by hiding its head in the sand.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
All of us confront limits of body, talent, temperament. But that is not all. We are, all of us, also constrained by our time, our place, our civilization.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Although most governments in the world are, as they always have been, autocracies of one kind or another, no idea holds greater sway in the mind of educated Americans than the belief that it is possible to democratize governments, anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Power... is not an end in itself, but is an instrument that must be used toward an end.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Words can destroy. What we call each other ultimately becomes what we think of each other, and it matters.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
And now, the American people, proud of our country, proud of our freedom, proud of ourselves, will reject the San Francisco Democrats and send Ronald Reagan back to the White House.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Neither nature, experience, nor probability informs these lists of 'entitlements', which are subject to no constraints except those of the mind and appetite of their authors.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Decades, if not centuries are normally required for people to acquire the necessary disciplines and habits. (for democracy) In Britain, the road to (democratic government) took seven centuries to traverse.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
No idea holds greater sway in the minds of educated Americans that the belief that it is possible to democratize governments anytime and anywhere under any circumstances.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies. They blame United States policies of 100 years ago. But then they always blame America first.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Vietnam presumably taught us that the United States could not serve as the world's policeman; it should also have taught us the dangers of trying to be the world's midwife to democracy when the birth is scheduled to take place under conditions of guerrilla war.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
The speed with which armies collapse, bureaucracies abdicate, and social structures dissolve once the autocrat is removed frequently surprises American Policy makers.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
When our Marines, sent to Lebanon on a multinational peacekeeping mission with the consent of the United States Congress, were murdered in their sleep, the "blame America first crowd" didn't blame the terrorists who murdered the Marines, they blamed the United States. But then, they always blame America first.... The American people know better.

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Traditional autocrats leave in place existing allocations of wealth, power, status, and other re- sources which in most traditional societies favor an affluent few and maintain masses in poverty. But they worship traditional gods and observe traditional taboos. They do not disturb the habitual rhythms of work and leisure, habitual places of residence, habitual patterns of family and personal relations. Because the miseries of traditional life are familiar, they are bearable to ordinary people who, growing up in the society, learn to cope, as children born to untouchables in India acquire the skills and attitudes necessary for survival in the miserable roles they are destined to fill.

Jeane Kirkpatrick