Madeleine Albright Quotes

• 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

• 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.

  Madeleine Albright

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

  Madeleine Albright

• 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.

  Madeleine Albright

• If you look at my life, generally, I’ve been put in situations which were difficult and which I conquered.

  Madeleine Albright

• I’ve never seen America as an imperialist or colonialist or meddling country.

  Madeleine Albright

• I’m a problem-solver.

  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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