Inviolate

In the world family of nations, sovereignty is one of the key conditions of existence, and sovereignty is inviolate.  Even if we talk about some small country such as Monaco or Luxembourg, the code of nations regards their sovereignty to be as precious as that of the United States or the USSR.  The day this code breaks down will be the beginning of the end of  world order and of a return to the rule of brute force.  Liberty begins as the aspiration of the individual, and sovereignty is the measure of the absolute power of a state.  As we look around us today, we see an erosion of this fundamental of international society.  It is for this reason that we must look into this situation and consider how important it is to the world community to uphold principals that we hold to be essential and priceless assets of our civilization...Since sovereignty is priceless and must be inviolate, it is fundamental that no nation has the right to do that which if every other nation did likewise, would destroy this fragile fabric of civilization.

--Senator J. William Fulbright, "The Arrogance Of Power", 1966

Quoted in "High Treason" by Robert J. Groden and Harrison Edward Livingstone, p. 443