The Secretary of State warned that western nations and culture have forgotten the qualities that made them the leaders of the world.
By Catholics for Catholics
For Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the West is truly at a crossroads: to take the path of once again reclaiming its strength and leadership in the world or become the old, the fragile and take the road of pusillanimous servitude for the rest of the nations who are only too eager to claim global domination.
On Wednesday, Rubio cautioned as he spoke in Athens, Greece, with the Acropolis behind him, that Western civilization’s strength comes not only from democracy and political institutions, but to a deeper set of virtues received from ancient Greece: “fierce individuality and relentless ambition,” “daring exploration and invention,” and “a yearning for discovery, for adventure, risk and glory.”
“These were not just the formulas or precepts of a particular school of philosophy,” Rubio said, according to a story by the Daily Wire. “They were the characteristics of a people.”
Inspired, Rubio went on to say the ancient Greeks made the pursuit of excellence quintessential to life, forming society around competition in everything from philosophy and art to athletics, war, and statecraft.
By contrast, modern Western ideologies, he contended, more and more favor safety over achievement.
SECRETARY RUBIO: This thumos, as the Ancient Greeks called it – the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride – is the heart of great civilization. Without it, nations lose their will to fight, to strive, to survive. https://t.co/r5hfm550Zw
— Department of State (@StateDept) October 7, 2026
“The ideal of many ideologies in our time has, frankly, become a world of perfect safety, devoid of risk or failure, with neither the glory of victory nor the shame of defeat,” he said.
“We hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average, the ordinary, the mediocre,” Rubio added.
“Over time, we in the West came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional,” Rubio said. “We felt embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world.”
Still, Western countries must also be willing to defend their interests when diplomacy fails, Rubio argued, giving the example of the ancient Greeks.
“They understood that statecraft requires prudence and diplomacy, but it also requires the ability to wield force when prudence and diplomacy fail,” Rubio said. “Power requires not only having the means to defend yourself, it requires the credibility that you are willing to use it.”
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