For America, our interests are our values, and our values are our interests.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the connection between a nation's interests and its values, suggesting that they should align.
In this quote, John McCain articulates the idea that a country's core values should directly inform its foreign and domestic interests. He suggests that a strong nation not only acts in its self-interest but does so in a way that reflects its foundational principles, implying that ethical considerations and national interests are inherently intertwined. Therefore, actions on the global stage should represent both the values that a country holds dear and the practical benefits it seeks.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of ethical leadership in politics.
Giap was a master of logistics, but his reputation rests on more than that. His victories were achieved by a patient strategy that he and Ho Chi Minh were convinced would succeed - an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties and the near total destruction of their country to defeat any adversary, no matter how powerful.
Whenever America sends its citizens into harm's way, it must do so with eyes wide open.
For decades we have been living lives of abundance, with little regard for our natural resources or global health. But we are now facing hard choices in our energy policy. Future generations - my children and grandchildren, along with yours - will have to live with the decisions we make today. And so it is time for us to make some tough and - hopefully - smart choices regarding our energy use and production before it is too late.
We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital.
I appreciate our government's determination to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the Bytyqi brothers, which Serbia's Interior Minister has rightly called 'an exceptionally serious crime,' and hope the Serbian government's pledge of full cooperation... is matched by a final accounting of their murder.
What is most troubling about Mr. Putin's aggression in Crimea is that it reflects a growing disregard for America's credibility in the world. That has emboldened other aggressive actors - from Chinese nationalists to Al Qaeda terrorists and Iranian theocrats.
People don't seem to understand that the separation of powers is not about the power of these branches; it's there to protect individual liberty - it's there to protect us from the concentration of power.
It is a terrible thought, to contemplate that an immense number of mediocre thinkers are occupied with really influential matters.
2 p.m. beer nothing matters but flopping on a mattress with cheap dreams and a beer as the leaves die and the horses die and the landladies stare in the halls; brisk the music of pulled shades, a last man's cave in an eternity of swarm and explosion; nothing but the dripping sink, the empty bottle, euphoria, youth fenced in, stabbed and shaven, taught words propped up to die.
Men of energy of character must have enemies; because there are two sides to every question, and taking one with decision, and acting on it with effect, those who take the other will of course be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect.
No man chooses evil because it's evil. He only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.
Of mankind in general, the parts are greater than the whole.
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