The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
Thucydides, c. 416 BC
Category: Realism, Power Politics
Source: History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V, Chapter 80 – The Melian Dialogue
Context: Spoken by Athenian envoys to the Melians during negotiations before the Athenian siege of Melos. The Athenians demanded submission; the Melians refused; Athens destroyed them. Widely recognized as the foundational articulation of power realism, that in the absence of superior authority, power determines outcomes.
The statemen must think in terms of the national interest, conceived as power among other powers.
Hans J. Morgenthau, 1948
Category: Realism
Source: Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace (1sr ed., 1948), Alfred A. Knopf, Part I
Context: Establishing the core normative of realism, that statesmen are obligated to pursue national power rather than universal moral principles. This became the foundational text of American IR theory in the postwar period.
In anarchy, security is the highest end. Only if survival is assured can states seek such other goals as tranquility, profit, and power.
Kenneth N. Waltz, 1979
Category: Neorealism/Structural Realism
Source: Theory of International Politics (1979), Addison-Wesley, Chapter 6. p. 126
Context: The central logical claim of neorealism – that the anarchic structure of the international system forces states to prioritize survival above all other goals, regardless of their domestic characteristics or leaders’ intentions.
America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.
Henry A. Kissinger, 1970s; variant of Lord Palmerston’s 1848 formulation
Category: Diplomacy, Grand Strategy
Source: Widely attributed across multiple speeches and interviews.
Context: Kissinger’s realpolitik worldview distilled to its essence – foreign policy must be guided by strategic interest rather than sentiment, ideology, or permanent loyalties.
Anarchy is what states make of it.
Alexander Wendt, 1992
Category: Constructivism
Source: “Anarchy is What States Make of it: The Social Construction of Power Politics,” International Organization, Vol. 46, No.2, Spring 1992, pp.391-425
Context: One of the most defining statement of constructivism in IR. It is a direct challenge to realist assumptions that anarchy necessarily produces self-help and competition. Wendt argues that the meaning of anarchy depends on the identities and shared understandings states bring to their interactions. If states treat each other as enemies, anarchy produces conflict; if as friends, it produces security communities.