Quote

This is no job for a UN committee. It needs the same kind of unwavering dedication and the kinds of people that got us the first nuclear submarine and the first man on the moon.

The reality is that international institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be.

There was an implicit conviction that the UN would be stronger than the sum of its constituent member-states.

I think the most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.'

There is no such thing as the United Nations.

There's no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

Of course the UN brings in a lot of moral authority.

President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the American voters to become president, either.

The UN's unique legitimacy flows from a universal perception that it pursues a larger purpose than the interests of one country or a small group of countries.