Madeleine Albright Quotes

16 Sourced Quotes

What really troubles me is that democracy is getting a bad name because it is identified with imposition and occupation. I'm for democracy, but imposing democracy is an oxymoron. People have to choose democracy, and it has to come up from below.

Madeleine Albright
I felt that America's duty was not to try to do everything itself, but to foster a sense of commitment that would bring out the best in every country.

Madeleine Albright
I bought... the pins with my three daughters in mind; the ships are beautiful, graceful, and moving along at full sail, having long since left home port.

Madeleine Albright
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

Madeleine Albright
When we're trying to solve difficult national issues its sometimes necessary to talk to adversaries as well as friends. Historians have a word for this: diplomacy.

Madeleine Albright
I'm not a person who thinks the world would be entirely different if it was run by women. If you think that, you've forgotten what high school was like.

Madeleine Albright
History is a strange teacher. It never repeats itself exactly, but you ignore its general lessons at your peril.

Madeleine Albright
There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women.

Madeleine Albright
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 then they are trespassers, not criminals. They deserve to have their dignity respected.

Madeleine Albright
Journalists clamored to know everything about our meetings, even though the negotiators were pledged to secrecy. To deflect questions, I told reporters that peace talks were comparable to mushrooms, thriving only in the dark.

Madeleine Albright
The purpose of foreign policy is to persuade others to do what we want or, better yet, to want what we want.

Madeleine Albright
I'm a critic. I think the administration has really undermined America's power and reputation and that Iraq may go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy, which means that I think it's worse than Vietnam in its unintended consequences and for our reputation. This president, because his administration is imposing democracy, which is an oxymoron, has, I think, hurt the concept. It is not just that the administration has been unilateral but that it has been unidimensional. It has paid attention primarily to one part of the world, without enough attention being paid to other parts.

Madeleine Albright
It is the threat of the use of force [against Iraq] and our line-up there that is going to put force behind the diplomacy. But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us.

Madeleine Albright
My deepest regret from my years in public service is the failure of the United States and the international community to act sooner to halt these crimes.

Madeleine Albright
What's the point of having this superb military that you're always talking about if we can't use it?

Madeleine Albright
Democracy cannot be built on revenge and you will not have the support of the world if you are intolerant and take the law into your own hands.

Madeleine Albright