Madeleine Albright Quotes
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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.
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I consider it my patriotic duty as an ordinary citizen - not as Secretary of State - to ask questions. I think we have to ask ourselves the tough questions.
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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.
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I felt that America's duty was not to try to do everything itself, but to foster a sense of commitment that would bring out the best in every country.
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I saw what happened when a dictator was allowed to take over a piece of a country and the country went down the tubes. And I saw the opposite during the war when America joined the fight.
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I teach at Georgetown, and I see that the students have so many different interests. The main thing is to match your passion with your knowledge, because you can't just be passionate without knowing the facts, and facts are really boring without passion.
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I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.
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I bought ... the pins with my three daughters in mind; the ships are beautiful, graceful, and moving along at full sail, having long since left home port.
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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.
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I think we all are people that are the product of our backgrounds. It's wrong to think that you're not.
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Often if you don't speak up, whatever you thought was stupid to say some man would say and then everyone would say 'as he said'.
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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.
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As you go along your own road in life, you will, if you aim high enough, also meet resistance... But no matter how tough the opposition may seem, have courage still and persevere.
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I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.
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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.
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I was not at all apprehensive about ... disease ... [it] had no terrors for me. The thing I most feared in the world was hunger. That was something of which I had personal knowledge.
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Unfortunately for the Iraqi people, instead of meeting these requirements, for six years, Saddam Hussein has lied, delayed, obstructed and tried to deceive
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I don't actually believe in a clash of civilizations. I believe in a clash of the civilized and the noncivilized.
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[John Kerry] actually stole my line because when I became Secretary of State, I said, 'I hope my heels will fill Warren Christopher's shoes.' So he reversed that.
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If you look at U.S. history through religious history, there is very much a motif that shows the importance religion has played in the U.S. We're a very religious country and it affects the way we look at various political issues.
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I think the jobs [at the top] are unbelievably difficult, and there is nothing easier than second-guessing people.
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People didn't think that a woman could be the Secretary of State, when my name was out there...but then the Arab Ambassadors at the UN said 'We have no problem dealing with Ambassador Albright, and we would have no problem dealing with Secretary Albright.'
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I think the hardest part [is] the priorities. There are an awful lot of things to do [being Secretary of State].
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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.