“Still we did not expect to be without rubs and difficulties; and we have had them. First the detention of Western posts: then the coalition of Pilnitz, outlawing our commerce with France, and the British enforcement of the outlawry. In your day French depredations; in mine English, and the Berlin and Milan decrees: now the English orders of council, and the piracies they authorize. When these shall be over, it will the impressment of our seamen, or something else; and so we have gone on, and so we shall go on, puzzled and prospering beyond example in the history of man.”
Quote by Thomas Jefferson

Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, a distinguished politician, philosopher, architect, and scientist. He was born on April 13, 1743, and died on July 4, 1826. Jefferson advocated for democracy and freedom in politics and was one of the main authors of the Declaration of Independence. His political ideas had a profound impact on the founding and development of the United States. more
“My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration of the government, to be upon friendly terms with, but independent of, all the nations of the earth. To share in the broils of none. To fulfil our own engagements. To supply the wants, and be carriers for them all: Being thoroughly convinced that it is our policy and interest to do so.”
Source: Maxims of George Washington: Political, Military, Social, Moral, and Religious
“[I]t seems that the Cannibals of Europe are going to eat one another again. A war between Russia and Turkey is like the battle of the kite and snake; whichever destroys the other, leaves a destroyer the less for the world.”
Source: Biographical sketches of distinguished American naval heroes in the war of the revolution, between the American Republic and the Kingdom of Great Britain: comprising sketches of Com. Nicholas Biddle, Com. John Paul Jones, Com. Edward Preble, and Com. Alexander Murray. With incidental allusions to other distinguished characters ...
“I hope we shall prove how much happier for man the Quaker policy is, and that the life of the feeder is better than that of the fighter; and it is some consolation that the desolation by these maniacs of one part of the earth is the means of improving it in other parts. Let the latter be our office, and let us milk the cow, while the Russian holds her by the horns, and the Turk by the tail.”
Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, cont
“For years I've been hearing 20-somethings say they don't expect Social Security to be around when they hit 65. Eventually, I came to realize that they really mean that they just don't expect to be 65. Or 40. Neither did I, when I was 22.”
“It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute.”
Source: 1816-1828
“We wish the happiness and prosperity of every nation.”
Source: Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness
“[A] spirit of justice and friendly accomodation...is our duty and our interest to cultivate with all nations.”
“My anxious recollections, my sympathetic feeling, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom.”
Source: The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot
“The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.”
“The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.”
Source: The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States