Madeleine Albright Quotes

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

  Madeleine Albright

• 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

• The greatest thrill in my life was to represent the United States of America.

  Madeleine Albright

• The difference between humans and other mammals is that we know how to accessorize.

  Madeleine Albright

• 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

• 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

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

  Madeleine Albright

• Really, I have to laugh because there was a whole set of stories that made me sound like the Dragon Lady, you know, ‘tough this and tough that.’ Then there is this business about ‘gooey.’ The bottom line is I am a pragmatic idealist.

  Madeleine Albright

• People are finding it harder and harder to relate to foreign policy.

  Madeleine Albright

• Our strategic dialogue with China can both protect American interests and uphold our principles, provided we are honest about our differences on human rights and other issues and provided we use a mix of targeted incentives and sanctions to narrow these differences.

  Madeleine Albright

• 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

• 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.

  Madeleine Albright

• Nobody’s ever said that pins are a tool of diplomacy.

  Madeleine Albright

• 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.

  Madeleine Albright

• NATO has been a thread throughout my life.

  Madeleine Albright

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

  Madeleine Albright

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

  Madeleine Albright

• Life is grim, and we don’t have to be grim all the time.

  Madeleine Albright

• 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

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

  Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright (100)

Birth:	15th May, 1937
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Diplomat, Politician, Statesman

About

Madeleine Albright is a Czech-born American politician and diplomat. She is the first woman to have become the United States Secretary of State. She was nominated by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0. She was sworn in on January 23, 1997.

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