Madeleine Albright quotes

I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person's shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #Successful #Shoes

The world would be entirely different if it were run by women. I think it is true that we are more seeking consensus and don't have such big egos and have a variety of different ways of trying to get along. But anybody who says that the world would be better has forgotten high school. It depends on who the women are.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Running #School #Thinking

The Framework Agreement is one of the best things the [Clinton] Administration has done because it stopped a nuclear weapons program in North Korea.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Agreement #Korea #Nuclear

I am not a fatalist. I have just been reading War and Peace and Tolstoy is such a fatalist. I think people can make a difference... I am an optimist who worries a lot.
-- Madeleine Albright

#War #Reading #Thinking

There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Business #Women #Helping Others

There are a lot of similar aspects in all the religions. The question is which side of it you hold up.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Sides #Aspect

If intelligence were a television set, it would be an early black-and-white model with poor reception, so that much of the picture was gray and the figures on the screen were snowy and indistinct. You could fiddle wiht the knobs all you wanted, but unless you were careful, what you would see often depended more on what you expacted or hoped to see than on what was really there.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Black And White #Television #Would Be

I think there has to be the sense that once you have climbed the ladder of success, that you don't push it away from the building.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Thinking #Ladders #Building

To put it mildly, the world is a mess
-- Madeleine Albright

#World #Mess

The reason I made women's issues central to American foreign policy, was not because I was a feminist, but because we know that societies are more stable if women are politically and economically empowered.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Issues #Feminist #Reason

I am a beneficiary of the American people's generosity, and I hope we can have comprehensive immigration legislation that allows this country to continue to be enriched by those who were not born here.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Country #Hope #People

I don't think people should think of women's issues as auxiliary issues - they are central.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Thinking #Issues #People

We will not be intimidated or pushed off the world stage by people who do not like what we stand for, and that is, freedom, democracy and the fight against disease, poverty and terrorism.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Fighting #People #Democracy

I do think that one needs to have respect for people who are older. And I really do love the idea that one can respect generations.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Thinking #Ideas #People

I love being a woman and I was not one of these women who rose through professional life by wearing men's clothes or looking masculine. I loved wearing bright colors and being who I am.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Men #Who I Am #Color

I get up every morning and I'm grateful for everything that has happened. I go through my list about being grateful for my children and grandchildren, and for the really remarkable life that I have been able to have.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Morning #Children #Grateful

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Inspirational #Motivational #Inspiring

I really do think about the fact that every day counts. I believe that every individual counts, and so I believe that every day counts and I try not to waste it.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #Thinking #Trying

The magic of America is that we're a free and open society with a mixed population. Part of our security is our freedom.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Patriotic #America #Magic

After the Cold War, to rally the American people to understand that we had to be a part of solutions. It's one thing to say that we have to run everything, it's another to say we don't want anything to do with it.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Running #War #People

I've never been to New Zealand before. But one of my role models, Xena, the warrior princess, comes from there.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Princess #Warrior #Role Models

Women are more than 50% of almost every country in the world. Countries rob themselves of the resources of women if they keep them as property. It isn't that women can't find work. It's just that women don't get paid for their work and are not recognized properly. It's something that has to be on the international agenda all the time.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Country #Agendas #World

Hate, emotionalism, and frustration are not policies.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Hate #Frustration #Policy

Well I do think, when there are more women, that the tone of the conversation changes, and also the goals of the conversation change. But it doesn't mean that the whole world would be a lot better if it were totally run by women. If you think that, you've forgotten high school.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Running #Mean #School

Jewelry and pins have been worn throughout history as symbols of power, sending messages. Interestingly enough, it was mostly men who wore the jewelry in various times, and obviously crowns were part of signals that were being sent throughout history by people of rank.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Men #People #Messages

I was taught to strive not because there were any guarantees of success but because the act of striving is in itself the only way to keep faith with life.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Success #Guarantees #Way

I have certain issues. I support women candidates, but I cannot support a woman that I don't believe in. I would prefer to vote for a man who believes in choice than a woman who is pro-life. We have to be able to make distinctions and not look as though we are not feminist enough if we don't support every woman. We need to have that kind of a choice.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #Men #Issues

Whatever the job you are asked to do at whatever level, do a good job because your reputation is your resume.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Jobs #Army #Levels

The other thing that happened was that we have a tendency to project our own weaknesses onto another woman. I don't think men do that particularly.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Men #Thinking #Weakness

What people have the capacity to choose, they have the ability to change.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Freedom #People #Capacity

We are very hip on the fact that America's always No. 1. On this we are not, in terms of the number of women in our legislative branches and obviously as head of state. We need to push on that. I hate to say this: It isn't all men's fault. I think some of it is our own attitude and approach. Some of it very healthy, that women want to make choices about their lives and how they want to spend their time, and what they value.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Attitude #Hate #Men

We must be authors of the history of our age.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Educational #Age

The bottom line is, the more we have a cadre of women moving up the scale, and it doesn't seem threatening, and people realize that women actually work much harder than men, and realize that they need more women in these jobs, I think that goes away.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Jobs #Moving #Men

We live in an image society. Speeches are not what anybody cares about; what they care about is the picture.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Care #Speech

I got married, I really waited a long time - three days after I graduated.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Long #Three #Married

While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Running #Government #Long

So there really was a whole series of things that took the women of my generation a little bit of time to push forward.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Generations #Littles

I've never seen America as an imperialist or colonialist or meddling country.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Country #America #Meddling

I don't actually believe in a clash of civilizations. I believe in a clash of the civilized and the noncivilized.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #Civilization #Clash

Embrace the faith that every challenge surmounted by your energy; every problem solved by your wisdom; every soul stirred by your passion; and every barrier to justice brought down by your determination will ennoble your life, inspire others, serve your country, and explode outward the boundaries of what is achievable on this earth.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Country #Determination #Passion

What distinguishes Americans from many people in the world is our kind of endemic optimism.
-- Madeleine Albright

#People #Optimism #World

I enjoy wearing pins, and nobody tells me to do it.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Pins #Enjoy

Even before I went to the UN, I often would want to say something in a meeting - only woman at the table - and I'd think, 'OK well, I don't think I'll say that. It may sound stupid.' And then some man says it, and everybody thinks it's completely brilliant, and you are so mad at yourself for not saying something.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Stupid #Men #Thinking

Our collective experience has shown that when women have the power to make their own choices, good things happen.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Choices #Good Things #Collectives

The best book, like the best speech, will do it all - make us laugh, think, cry and cheer - preferably in that order.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Cheer #Book #Thinking

Real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Graduation #Real #Moving

When we're trying to solve difficult national issues its sometimes necessary to talk to adversaries as well as friends. Historians have a word for this: diplomacy.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Issues #Trying #Sometimes

I really think that there was a great advantage in many ways to being a woman. I think we are a lot better at personal relationships, and then have the capability obviously of telling it like it is when it's necessary.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Thinking #Way #Being A Woman

But I think there are some who believe they are actually protecting women, you know, and that it is better for women to be taken care of. I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important. And frankly, I don't understand -I mean, I'm obviously a card-carrying Democrat - but I can't understand why any woman would want to vote for Mitt Romney, except maybe Mrs. Romney.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #Taken #Mean

I have been in meetings where a head of state will say, 'I like your tie,' to a man... or, 'I like your country because the weather's good,' or whatever. So for me, the pins in some ways were openers.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Country #Men #Ties

I do not believe that things happen accidentally; I believe you earn them.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #I Believe #Things Happen

I never dreamed about one day becoming Secretary of State. It's not that I was modest; it's just that I had never seen a Secretary of State in a skirt.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Inspirational #One Day #Skirts

This is pure speculation, but for a period of time, a lot of getting into a party was through fundraising and volunteer work, and Republican women had more time to do that than democratic women, who were out there getting jobs.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Jobs #Party #Fundraising

I think the personal relationships I established mattered in terms of what I was able to get done. And I did bring women's issues to the center of our foreign policy.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Thinking #Issues #Done

One of the things that was really an issue was I did not want to just be a woman secretary of state. I wanted to be a secretary of a state who was a woman, but not just chosen for that particular reason.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Issues #Want #Reason

There is a significant moral difference between a person who commits a violent crime and a person who tries to cross a border illegally in order to put food on the family table. Such migrants my violate our laws against illicit entry, but if that's all they do they are trespassers, not criminals. They deserve to have their dignity respected.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Order #Law #Differences

You think that the heads of state only have serious conversations, but they actually often begin really with the weather or, 'I really like your tie.'
-- Madeleine Albright

#Thinking #Ties #Weather

Iraq is a long way from the U.S., but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Iraq #Long #Leader

The capability of negotiating... is something that means you not only have to understand fully what you believe and what your national interests are but in order to be a really good negotiator, you have to try to figure out what the other person on the other side of the table has in mind.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Believe #Mean #Order

Saddam's goal is to achieve the lifting of U.N. sanctions while retaining and enhancing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. We cannot, we must not and we will not let him succeed.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Iraq #Wmd #Goal

It's important that we invest in America - literally. The terrorists wanted to destroy our economy, and we can't let our system fall apart. We also have to invest in one another.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Fall #America #Important

The main thing is to remain oneself, under any circumstances; that was and is our common purpose.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Purpose #Common #Circumstances

We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of history but to shape history, a responsibility to fill the role of path-finder, and to build with others a global network of purpose and law.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Responsibility #Law #Vision

I wasn't a normal professor. I had worked in government. I hadn't written nine zillion books. I was a hands-on professor.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Book #Government #Hands

I have always seen the United States as a force of good. And I have learned that there is the idealistic part about what we can do at the U.N. and there is a doable part. And I have learned what is more doable.
-- Madeleine Albright

#United States #Force #I Have Learned

I'm not a person who thinks the world would be entirely different if it was run by women. If you think that, you've forgotten what high school was like.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Running #School #Thinking

Because of my parents' love of democracy, we came to America after being driven twice from our home in Czechoslovakia - first by Hitler and then by Stalin.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Home #America #Parent

I have said this many times, that there seems to be enough room in the world for mediocre men, but not for mediocre women, and we really have to work very, very hard.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Men #World #Rooms

In A Man With a Pipe, my brother observed that although my father had been seen as intellectual and my mother more a creature of temperament, she had often been the more levelheaded of the two. In sum, we miss them as we love them, equally and always.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Mother #Brother #Father

I was struck by the joy of those pilots in committing coldblooded murder . . . Frankly, this is not cojones. This is cowardice.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Joy #Cojones #Pilots

If we have to use force, it is because we are America.
-- Madeleine Albright

#America #Use #Anarchy

I did go to Wellesley, a women's college. And I am of a kind of strange generation which is transitional in terms of women who wanted to go out and get jobs.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Jobs #College #Generations

Every new president inherits headaches, but President Obama has inherited an entire emergency room.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Political #President #Rooms

But I do not believe that the world would be entirely different if there were more women leaders. Maybe if everybody in leadership was a woman, you might not get into the conflicts in the first place. But if you watch the women who have made it to the top, they haven't exactly been non-aggressive - including me.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Leadership #Believe #World

Our predecessors understood that the ties that bind America are far stronger than disagreements over any particular policy and far more durable and profound than any party affiliation.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Party #America #Ties

I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it.
-- Madeleine Albright

#War #Thinking #Choices

Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Choices #Example #Campaigns

We have the most generous immigration policy, but what is a concern is when illegal immigrants come and undermine a variety of the systems that work in order to make our society function.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Order #Immigration #Our Society

To understand Europe, you have to be a genius - or French.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Europe #Genius

I can't imagine what it is like to be raised in a society where their only statues that exist are to you and your father.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Father #Imagine #Raised

I loved being Secretary of State, that's probably evident to everyone who watched me.
-- Madeleine Albright

#States #Secretary

Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Palaces #Hussein #Weapons

The U.N. bureaucracy has grown to elephantine proportions. Now that the Cold War is over, we are asking that elephant to do gymnastics.
-- Madeleine Albright

#War #Gymnastics #Elephants

I was a little girl in World War II and I'm used to being freed by Americans.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Girl #War #World

For somebody who loves foreign policy, being Secretary is the best job in the world - but it doesn't happen twice.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Jobs #World #Foreign Policy

I have to tell you, my seven-year-old granddaughter said to my daughter, her mother, 'So what's the big deal about Grandma Maddy having been Secretary of State? Only girls are Secretaries of State.' Most of her lifetime, it's true. But at the time it really was a big deal.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Girl #Mother #Daughter

And frankly, I don't understand - I mean, I'm obviously a card-carrying Democrat - but I can't understand why any woman would want to vote for Mitt Romney, except maybe Mrs. Romney.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Mean #Cards #Want

Women can't do everything at the same time, we need to understand milestones in our lives comes in segments.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Needs #Milestone

Women have to be active listeners and interrupters - but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Talking #Active

If you look at my life, generally, I've been put in situations which were difficult and which I conquered.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Looks #Difficult #Situation

The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You're trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren't very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Trying #Looks #Answers

I hope I'm wrong, but I am afraid that Iraq is going to turn out to be the greatest disaster in American foreign policy - worse than Vietnam, not in the number who died, but in terms of its unintended consequences and its reverberation throughout the region.
-- Madeleine Albright

#Iraq #Numbers #Vietnam