Quotes from Madeleine Albright

I loved what I did. I could've been secretary of state for ever.

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

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.

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

I have always thought of myself as a Czechoslovak Catholic.

I think that we all know what evil is. We have a sense of what's evil, and certainly killing innocent people is evil. We're less sure about what is good. There's sort of good, good enough, could be better - but absolute good is a little harder to define.

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.

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'.

I am by nature a worried optimist.

Well we're good friends so I'm a little prejudice, but I think [Hillary Clinton] is incredibly qualified, and better prepared to be president than almost anyone who's ever run frankly.

History is written backwards but lived forwards.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.'

Hate, emotionalism, and frustration are not policies.

It's one thing to be religious, but it's another thing to make religion your policy.

My parents were of the generation who thought they were the children of a free Czechoslovakia, the only democracy in central Europe.

One of the issues I kept saying to my students is you have to learn to interrupt. When you raise your hand at a meeting, by the time they get to you, the point is not germane. So the bottom line is active listening. If you are going to interrupt, you look for opportunities. You have to know what you're talking about.