UN General Assembly
2016

There are a lot of nations right now that are doing the right thing, but many nations — particularly those blessed with wealth and the benefits of geography — that can do more to offer a hand, even if they also insist that refugees who come to our countries have to do more to adapt to the customs and conventions of the communities that are now providing them a home. Let me conclude by saying that I recognize that history tells a different story than the one that I have talked about here today. There is a much darker and more cynical view of history that we can adopt. Human beings are too often motivated by greed and by power. Big countries for most of history have pushed smaller ones around. Tribes, ethnic groups and nation States have very often found it most convenient to define themselves by what they hate and not just those ideas that bind them together.