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.

I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one ‚race‘ – the human race – and that we are all members of it.

Some years ago I became president of Columbia University and learned within 24 hours to be ready to speak at the drop of a hat, and I learned something more, the trustees were expected to be ready to speak at the passing of the hat.

I feel like the way I was raised was to be able to see through all the titles in this world – from religion to race.

All women have a perception much more developed than men. So all women somehow, being repressed for so many millennia, they ended up by developing this sixth sense and contemplation and love. And this is something that we have a hard time to accept as part of our society.

A man makes you feel important – makes you glad you are a woman.

I’ve still not written as well as I want to. I want to write so that the reader in Des Moines, Iowa, in Kowloon, China, in Cape Town, South Africa, can say, ‚You know, that’s the truth. I wasn’t there, and I wasn’t a six-foot black girl, but that’s the truth.‘

High office teaches decision making, not substance. It consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it. Most high officials leave office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered; they learn how to make decisions but not what decisions to make.

What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers.

I don’t want people saying, ‚Should we get a female director?‘ I want to hear, ‚Should we get a great director for this movie?‘

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

I’ve been a mogul and executive since the beginning of my career. People are just born with that skill.

Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

We have a tendency to condemn people who are different from us, to define their sins as paramount and our own sinfulness as being insignificant.

In the duel of sex woman fights from a dreadnought and man from an open raft.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

The stronger the participation of the female characters, the better the movie. They knew that in the old days, when women stars were equally as important as men.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

Woman was God’s second mistake.

Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.

Be the chief but never the lord.

My relationship to power and authority is that I’m all for it. People need somebody to watch over them. Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.

One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.

If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

In my country we go to prison first and then become President.

Things must be done by parties, not by persons using parties as tools.

Most businesses think that product is the most important thing, but without great leadership, mission and a team that deliver results at a high level, even the best product won’t make a company successful.

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.

In business for yourself, not by yourself.

Aviation offered such fun as crossing the continent in planes large and small, trying the whirling rotors of an autogiro, making record flights. With these activities came opportunity to know women everywhere who shared my conviction that there is so much women can do in the modern world and should be permitted to do irrespective of their sex.

The path to the CEO’s office should not be through the CFO’s office, and it should not be through the marketing department. It needs to be through engineering and design.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.

America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.

We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.

I look like a woman, but I think like a man.

We can continue to learn generation after generation and now is time to begin to learn how to love in a non-discriminatory way because we are intelligent enough, but we are not loving enough as a species.

Sisters, do you realize the breadth and scope of your influence when you speak those things that come to your heart and mind as directed by the Spirit?

A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?

Women are nothing but machines for producing children.

Most people don’t like change. They revolt against it unless they can clearly see the advantage it brings. For that reason, when good leaders prepare to take action or make changes, they take people through a process to get them ready for it.

I am often asked if, when I was secretary, I had problems with foreign men. That is not who I had problems with, because I arrived in a very large plane that said United States of America. I had more problems with the men in our own government.

Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.

America’s promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That’s one of the reasons why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

I want people to draw strength from me.

All of us are mentors. You’re mentors right here and now. And one of the things I’ve always done throughout my life, I have always found that person, that group of people that I was going to reach my hand out and help bring them along with me.

Anybody who has been discriminated against, who comes from a group that’s been discriminated against, knows what it’s like.

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

We can never make ourselves better by trying… praying more or longer, studying more of the Word, performing good works, etc. Don’t get me wrong… it’s not bad to do any of these things. In fact, it’s good. It’s just that doing them in God’s power is the only way those things will have any real and lasting effect in our lives.

The American President resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek.

Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!