Quotes from Madeleine Albright

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

I spent my life studying communism and Soviet systems.

As strong as the United States is, we can't deal with terrorism alone.

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.

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.

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.

The only thing I have to go by is what my mother and father told me, how I was brought up.

There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women. (Keynote speech at Celebrating Inspiration luncheon with the WNBA's All-Decade Team, 2006)

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

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.

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 may 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.

I also think it is important for women to help one another. I have a saying: There is a special place in hell for women who don't.

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

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

I wonder," wrote Eleanor Roosevelt, "whether we have decided to hide behind neutrality? It is safe, perhaps, but I am not always sure it is right to be safe. . . . Every time a nation which has known freedom loses it, other free nations lose something, too.