“I don’t understand what the president’s [Donald Trump] position is on Russia. But I can tell you what my position is on Russia: Russia is a great danger to a lot of its neighbors, and [Vladimir]”

The vast majority of that is health entitlements – Medicare, Obamacare, Medicaid. There’s also Social Security, interest on the debt. But fundamentally, health entitlements are the thing that will bankrupt our kids. We need to fix that for the long-term.

[Vladimir] Putin is an enemy of political dissent. The U.S. celebrates political dissent and the right for people to argue free from violence about places where our ideas are in conflict.

What happens in Senate fight club stays in Senate fight club.

What’s more constructive for our kids is to go on a case-by-case basis, evaluating particular policies.

I think I’m one of five people in the Senate who’s never been a politician before. And now that I am a politician, what I find weird about it is that I respect myself less.

[Vladimir] Putin is an enemy of the free press. The U.S. celebrates free press.

So [Vladimir] Putin is a mess. He’s committed all sort of murderous thuggery, and I am opposed to the way Putin conducts himself in world affairs, and I hope that the president also wants to show moral leadership about this issue.

There is no equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom loving nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in [Vladimir] Putin’s defense of his cronyism. There’s no moral equivalency there.

I didn’t go to Harvard because I thought they had good academics. I went because they had crappy enough sports so they’d let me play.

People think if they voted for somebody, they should reflexively defend everything they do or say. And if you voted against somebody, you should just as reflexively oppose everything they do or say. It’s not very helpful.

Putin has as one of his core objectives fracturing NATO, which is one of the greatest military alliances in the history of the world.

he U.S. celebrates political dissent and the right for people to argue free from violence about places or ideas that are in conflict.

In the American constitutional system of three different branches, conflict – and I mean that peaceful, vigorous debate – it’s a feature of our system, not a bug. We need less all-or – winner-take-all politics.

The real number of the US’ obligations, unfunded obligations that we’re passing on to our future generates is more like $70 trillion to $75 trillion.

We obviously have to honor the commitments that have been made to the people who are already retired or near the retirement age. But we need to tell the truth about the fact that when we set the retirement age at age 65 in America, life expectancy was only 62.

Let’s be clear: Has the U.S. ever made any mistakes? Of course.Is the U.S. at all like [Vladimir] Putin’s regime? Not at all.

The United States only knows one form of intervention and that is the military one. Everything depends on drawn weapons. We should, however, develop a wider scope of action. And we should learn to be patient.

The battle against terrorism is not only a military fight but primarily a battle of information.

I’m optimistic because I’m pragmatic: Neither of the two sides, the military government nor the Islamic front, is capable of winning. If they continue to fight, they will both bleed to death.

There’s a sense of desperation in Afghanistan because of the lack of funding and the fact that the U.S. only has a one-track military strategy. It doesn’t have an economic and political game plan.

Dysfunctional states like Afghanistan need business people who are deeply rooted in their country and invest in it. They can add stability.

The Spartans do not enquire how many the enemy are, but where they are.

The military predominace of Sparte. This example proves that man can everything on themselves when they want it (“peuvent tout sur eux-mêmes quand ils le veulent”, Fr.); therefore it would only be a question of making them will the good.

I did a real boot camp once which with The Thin Red Line which was learning military exercises and this was far less strenuous.