4 Quotes by John J. Mearsheimer

Great powers of all persuasions care deeply about their survival, and there is always the danger in a bipolar or multipolar system that they will be attacked by another great power. In these circumstances, liberal great powers regularly dress up their hard-nosed behavior with liberal rhetoric. They talk like liberals and act like realists. Should they adopt liberal policies that are at odds with realist logic, they invariably come to regret it.

In other words, are humans fundamentally social animals who strive hard to carve out room for their individuality, or are they individuals who form social contracts?

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler believed that his great-power rivals would be easy to exploit and isolate because each had little interest in fighting Germany and instead was determined to get someone else to assume the burden. He guessed right.

The sad fact is that international politics has always been a ruthless and dangerous business, and it is likely to remain that way.