Madeleine Albright Quotes

"A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it's not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It's more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together."

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

"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."

"To be safe at the expense of the liberty of other people is a difficult equation."

"Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember - there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other."

"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."

"If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future."

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

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

"Hate, emotionalism, and frustration are not policies."

"Nobody's ever said that pins are a tool of diplomacy."

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

"As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view."

"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."

"When Hillary served as Secretary of State, I watched her partner with President Obama to restore our country's reputation around the world."

"Don't make me into this airy-fairy, moralist, idealist because I'm not."

"I spent my life studying communism and Soviet systems."

"I know that war is very cruel and that life is harder when you aren't able to live in the place you called home."

"Well, the thing that I learned as a diplomat is that human relations ultimately make a huge difference."

"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."

"Take it from someone who fled the Iron Curtain: I know what happens when you give the Russians a green light."

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

"And so I have studied, I have to tell you, revolutions and uprisings for a long time. They are all slightly different, but what they all look for is some kind of a mechanism to go from an authoritarian system to an open, democratic system."

"Life is grim, and we don't have to be grim all the time."

"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."

"Most of the time I spend when I get up in the morning is trying to figure out what is going to happen."

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

"I have always thought of myself as a Czechoslovak Catholic."

"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."

"No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground."