John Mearsheimer

"...If China continues to rise, you better be very careful, because that will drive the United States stark raving crazy...."

"The cycle of violence will continue far into the new millennium. Hopes for peace will probably not be realized, because the great that shape the international system fear each other and compete for power as a result. Indeed, their ultimate aim is to gain a position of dominant power over others, because having dominant power is the best means to ensure ones own survival."

"The German air offensives against British cities in World Wars I and II not only failed to coerce the United Kingdom to surrender, but Germany also lost both wars."

"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."

"In the anarchic world of international politics, it is better to be Godzilla than Bambi."

"When an aggressor comes on the scene, at least one other state will eventually take direct responsibility for checking it."

"Preserving power, rather than increasing it, is the main goal of states."

"The most dangerous states in the international system are continental powers with large armies."

"The liberal tradition has its roots in the Enlightenment, that period in the eighteenth-century Europe when intellectuals and political leaders had a powerful sense that reason could be employed to make the world a better place."

"In an ideal world, where there are only good states, power would be largely irrelevant."

"The optimists claim that security competition and war among the great powers has been burned out of the system is wrong. In fact all of the major states around the globe still care deeply about the balance of power among themselves for the foreseeable future."

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