Alliance. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other’s pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third. Ambrose Bierce
An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State Department. Walter Lippmann
‘Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. George Washington
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. Thomas Jefferson
Any alliance whose purpose is not the intention to wage war is senseless and useless. Adolf Hitler
Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another? Thomas Jefferson