Chuck Hagel

Foreign policy will require a strategic agility that, whenever possible, gets ahead of problems, strengthens U.S. security and alliances, and promotes American interests and credibility.

Imposing democracy through force is a roll of the dice.

Alliances and international organizations should be understood as opportunities for leadership and a means to expand our influence, not as constraints on our power.

It took me realizing that a broken heart has never actually killed anyone to find the courage to ask for what I want, in just about every situation. That was part of my own growing up.

I think it's obvious that democracy is something that is contagious, and it always has been.

I generally don't follow domestic news that much aside from how it relates to the stories I'm covering abroad, like what Americans think of the War in Afghanistan.