Straying off course is not recognized as a capital crime by civilized nations.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

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

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

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

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

What takes place in the Security Council more closely resembles a mugging than either a political debate or an effort at problem-solving.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

Democrats can't get elected unless things get worse-and things won't get worse unless they get elected.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

History is a better guide than good intentions.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies, they blame Un…

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

For all their faults, right-wing authoritarian regimes more easily accept democratic reforms than left-wing totalitarian states.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick

I conclude that it is a fundamental mistake to think that salvation, justice, or virtue come through merely human institutions.

- Jeane Kirkpatrick