[America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force.... She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, Speech, July 4, 1821

The spread of freedom is the best security for the free.

BLAIR, TONY, Prime Minister of England, Speech to United States Congress, July 17, 2003

I have ever deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, To James Monroe, 1823

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS, 1st Inaugural Address, 1801