Top 100 Condoleezza Quotes
#1. So I think, if September 11 taught us anything, it taught us that we're vulnerable, and vulnerable in ways that we didn't fully understand.
Condoleezza Rice
#2. I think there are still unanswered questions about Benghazi. I think there are unanswered questions, and they could be easily answered. But I think they need to be answered.
Condoleezza Rice
#3. It is a longstanding principle that sitting national security advisers do not testify before the Congress.
Condoleezza Rice
#4. If it is not possible for me to go somewhere and to be willing to encounter people with different views, then I'm really not doing my job.
Condoleezza Rice
#6. Everybody in the world is capable of democratic development. Some people in the world are unlucky enough to get stuck with really bad political leadership and with really bad political institutions.
Condoleezza Rice
#7. As I was telling my husb - As I was telling President Bush.
Condoleezza Rice
#8. The first step for a leader is to be right with yourself. Integrity is the basis of leadership.
Condoleezza Rice
#9. After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history.
Condoleezza Rice
#10. But the truth of the matter is, we're an open society, we want to remain an open society, and there will continue to be vulnerability. That's why we have to meet the threats when they are not yet taking place on our territory and on our soil.
Condoleezza Rice
#11. In light of 50 years of bondage of Eastern Europe, [invading the Soviet Union in 1948 to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons] was probably a reasonable thing to do.
Condoleezza Rice
#12. Let me let you in on a little secret. There is no such thing as an international community. There are self-maximizing, self-interested states that will push their interests as far as possible.
Condoleezza Rice
#13. Education is transformational. It changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated and why education has always been the key to the American Dream, the force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture and unlocks every person's God-given potential.
Condoleezza Rice
#14. We know that there are unaccounted-for Scud and other ballistic missiles in Iraq. And part of the problem is that, since 1998, there has been no way to even get minimal information about those programs except through intelligence means.
Condoleezza Rice
#15. We will have to stand up for and promote the power and promise of free markets and free peoples, and affirm that American preeminence safeguards rather than impedes global progress.
Condoleezza Rice
#16. If the strong exploit the weak, democracy will not be stable.
Condoleezza Rice
#17. I think Americans are not guilty for 9/11; I think President Bush is not guilty for 9/11.
Condoleezza Rice
#18. I am very fond of Jeb Bush. He's a friend; he was a terrific governor of Florida. I worked with him on some immigration and education issues.
Condoleezza Rice
#19. Believe it or not, I loved acid rock in college - and I still do.
Condoleezza Rice
#21. I was born in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. I didn't have a white classmate till we moved to Denver.
Condoleezza Rice
#22. People may oppose you, but when they realize you can hurt them, they'll join your side.
Condoleezza Rice
#23. As Americans we like to believe that we're loved in international politics or that people like what we're doing. But we also recognize that we have an extraordinary responsibility to do what we think is right, and that sometimes what we do is not very popular.
Condoleezza Rice
#24. I'm a very happy university professor ... the best thing about being a university professor is that you see young people as they're being shaped and molded toward their own future, and you have a chance to be a part of that.
Condoleezza Rice
#25. I firmly believe you never should spend your time being the former anything.
Condoleezza Rice
#26. The U.S. has since the end of World War II had an answer - we stand for free peoples and free markets, we are willing to support and defend them - we will sustain a balance of power that favors freedom.
Condoleezza Rice
#27. No American president can support an Egypt that calls into question the historic treaty between Israel and Egypt. And no American president can support an Egypt that doesn't fully recognize women's rights or the rights of religious minorities.
Condoleezza Rice
#28. But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.
Condoleezza Rice
#29. I've been an athlete all my life. I was a competitive figure skater, and then when I realized skating was not an adult sport I took up tennis and played that quite seriously from the time I was about 18.
Condoleezza Rice
#30. We've been a country that's been fortunate to be protected by two oceans, to not have serious attacks on our territory for most of our history. And we were unfortunately reminded in a very devastating way of our vulnerability.
Condoleezza Rice
#31. The PDB (Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.) does not say the United States is going to be attacked. It says Bin Laden would like to attack the United States. I don't think you, frankly, had to have that report to know that Bin Laden would like to attack the United States.
Condoleezza Rice
#32. There's no greater challenge and there is no greater honor than to be in public service.
Condoleezza Rice
#33. The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly Saddam can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.
Condoleezza Rice
#34. Does anybody think these people were just sitting around drinking tea?
Condoleezza Rice
#35. This is the democratic process at work, What you're seeing with this process is the Iraqi people embracing American-style democracy.
Condoleezza Rice
#36. You have to have a strong sense of your values and a strong sense of who you are, because there are a lot of events and a lot of people who will pull you in this direction or that direction.
Condoleezza Rice
#37. What the United States has done hasn't always been liked or popular. But if you look at some of the most populous places in the world - China, India - the United States is not only respected but, in fact, popular.
Condoleezza Rice
#38. There is not going to be any pass for Palestinian leadership in fighting terror.
Condoleezza Rice
#39. History's long arc is different than the today's headlines.
Condoleezza Rice
#40. I certainly think that the world views the United States as a place to be respected. All over the world our values are respected; who we are, a place that you can come and come from modest circumstances to great things, that's respected.
Condoleezza Rice
#41. Your passion may be hard to spot, so keep an open mind and keep searching.
Condoleezza Rice
#42. You cannot be on one hand dedicated to peace and on the other dedicated to violence. Those two things are irreconcilable.
Condoleezza Rice
#43. The Bush administration may, in future years, be remembered 'for bringing peace to the Middle East' (as Condoleezza Rice has pronounced). History may be the mother of truth, but it can also give birth to illegitimate children.
Alberto Manguel
#44. It was actually fun to write [memoir], because I went back to interview people my parents had taught or who had worked with them, and I learned a lot about them that I hadn't known.
Condoleezza Rice
#45. You go to war when there is a security threat, and Saddam Hussein was seen as a threat to our interests and our security.
Condoleezza Rice
#46. Who created the sectarian attitude in Iraq? The occupation, ... We never heard of this before in our history. But it's good that Condoleezza Rice realizes sectarianism is not good for Iraq. All we want from them is fair and clean elections next month.
Saleh Al-Mutlaq
#47. You do have to keep in mind as you're going through extraordinarily difficult circumstances, that if you stay true, true to your values, if you stay true to your principles, if you believe in these values, then you can work in that context to right policies that may not be working.
Condoleezza Rice
#48. [I]t is a dangerous thing to ask why someone else has been given more. It is humbling - and indeed healthy - to ask why you have been given so much.
Condoleezza Rice
#49. It takes courage to set priorities because doing so is an admission that American policy cannot be all things to all people - or rather to all interest groups
Condoleezza Rice
#50. I think that the United States has always been most effective when it is leading both from power and principle.
Condoleezza Rice
#51. You never cede control of your own ability to be successful to something called racism.
Condoleezza Rice
#52. I've found my place in life, that I'm passionate about, my talents and my passion have merged, and I'm trying to do the best that I can.
Condoleezza Rice
#53. People notice if you are black. People notice if you are female. We are certainly not either colorblind or gender-blind in this country, so I'm not suggesting that it isn't a factor. But I think in the final analysis, people will take a look at the positions, and they'll take a look at the issues.
Condoleezza Rice
#54. I wish someone had put a golf club in my hands, not skates on my feet. It is a really great game for business. It's a great game for making connections.
Condoleezza Rice
#55. President Bush says he is looking forward to the testimony of Condoleezza Rice. Yes, he is very excited about Condoleezza Rice's testimony before Congress. Well, it makes perfect sense - he wants to know what was going on, too.
David Letterman
#56. Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11. It's not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11, but, if you think about what caused 9/11, it is the rise of ideologies of hatred that lead people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York.
Condoleezza Rice
#57. The United States is willing to exert strong leadership to give diplomacy its very best chance to succeed.
Condoleezza Rice
#58. When I said I had always hoped to marry in my race, I really do mean that. That doesn't mean I absolutely wouldn't marry outside of it, but there's a culture and traditions to maintain, and I have great pride in them, and I always thought it would be wonderful to share that with somebody of my race.
Condoleezza Rice
#59. I'm not personally fearful, but I look out, and there are a number of things that concern me, and I'm hopeful that we can overcome them.
Condoleezza Rice
#60. I laugh almost everyday. I have a good sense of humor, so I'm always finding something funny.
Condoleezza Rice
#61. When are we going to stop making excuses for the terrorists and saying that somebody is making them do it? No, these are simply evil people who want to kill.
Condoleezza Rice
#62. I may not agree with everything, but our President, just like President [George W.] Bush did, is trying to do his best under difficult circumstances.
Condoleezza Rice
#63. For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither.
Condoleezza Rice
#64. You aren't going to be successful as a diplomat if you don't understand the strategic context in which you are actually negotiating. It is not deal making. It's not.
Condoleezza Rice
#65. I'm a great believer in the fact that as you get to know someone, it matters not what religious background they have, or what their nationality is, or where they came from. And I think that's how Americans really do relate to each other on a personal level.
Condoleezza Rice
#66. The pursuit by the Iranian regime of nuclear weapons represents a direct threat to the entire international community, including to the United States and to the Persian Gulf region.
Condoleezza Rice
#67. We [The United States] believe the Iranian people want a future of freedom and human rights: the right to vote, to run for office, to express their views without fear and to pursue political causes. We would welcome the progress, prosperity and freedom of the Iranian people.
Condoleezza Rice
#68. We [USA] need to deal with our problems here at home if we're going to be strong enough to lead abroad.
Condoleezza Rice
#69. Everyone wants Russia to be a prosperous, democratic state that is fully integrated.
Condoleezza Rice
#70. To see an African-American elected president means that this country is really finally coming full circle from the birth defect of slavery.
Condoleezza Rice
#71. When you're in government, of course, you have protection and you have people who are looking out for your wellbeing, but you can't live in a state of fear. If you do, you're not going to do your job very well and you're going to give yourself high blood pressure, which probably isn't worth it.
Condoleezza Rice
#72. To say that people around the world deserve the same, the same life that we have in the United States, the same freedoms that we have, that seems to me, humble. I think it's humble to say that the United States, which has been given so much, should give back.
Condoleezza Rice
#73. If you cannot allow people to do their jobs ... nobody with substance and creativity will work for you.
Condoleezza Rice
#74. Success is not assured, but America is resolute: this is the best chance for peace we are likely to see for some years to come - and we are acting to help Israelis and Palestinians seize this chance.
Condoleezza Rice
#75. When people see the terrible scenes of violence on television, when we mourn the death of each and every American man and woman in uniform or a civilian that's killed, that it's hard to see the progress that's being made and it's hard to believe that this is all going to come out for the better.
Condoleezza Rice
#76. I'm a committed Republican. I believe very strongly in individual liberty. I tend not to think much in terms of group politics. I really am a kind of small government person and I'm most certainly a fiscal conservative and strong on national defense.
Condoleezza Rice
#77. What we will not wait for is that particular nexus of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction that is extremism, and the technology to come together in a way that is harmful to the United States.
Condoleezza Rice
#78. I find that the great majority of public servants across the entire political spectrum come because they believe in the United States and they want to change the world.
Condoleezza Rice
#79. Every life is worthy and every life is capable of greatness. We have an obligation to make sure that opportunity for greatness is there.
Condoleezza Rice
#80. People have the right to protest - that's what democracy is all about. I have no problem with people exercising their democratic rights.
Condoleezza Rice
#81. Multilateral diplomacy is hard. It's slower, it's tougher, it's a bigger slog. I've learned that sometimes the things you'd most like to do something about, you really have difficulty unless the international community really mobilizes.
Condoleezza Rice
#82. The quicker we get about the business of reducing our reliance on oil the better.
Condoleezza Rice
#83. What we're hearing from everyone is that they understand that Saddam Hussein is a threat. They understand that he's been a threat for a long time.
Condoleezza Rice
#84. It has been, after all, 11 years, more than a decade now, of defiance of U.N. resolutions by Saddam Hussein. Every obligation that he signed onto after the Gulf War, so that he would not be a threat to peace and security, he has ignored and flaunted.
Condoleezza Rice
#85. I play a lot chamber music.As for something that's hard for me to play, before I leave this Earth I'm hoping to play Brahms' Second Piano Concerto.
Condoleezza Rice
#86. My dad was not someone who you would strike with a billy club and he wouldn't strike back. It just wasn't in him.
Condoleezza Rice
#87. When people don't have a hopeful vision before them or the possible resolution of their difficulties by peaceful means, then they can be attracted to violence and to separatism.
Condoleezza Rice
#88. Race is a constant factor in American life. Yet reacting to every incident,real or imagined, is crippling, tiring, and ultimately counterproductive.
Condoleezza Rice
#89. My father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did.
Condoleezza Rice
#90. Well, there are many things, whenever you look back, that you would've done differently. We're all human. We do our best at the time. I really wish that we had passed a comprehensive immigration bill because that would've really helped our country. We came close, but we couldn't.
Condoleezza Rice
#91. The true reason of Ms. Rice's attack against Russia is very simple. Condoleezza Rice is a very cruel, offended woman who lacks men's attention.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
#92. I've been a longtime admirer of Condoleezza Rice, because I like her articulateness and style - her toughness and rigor.
Camille Paglia
#93. Now, al Qaeda's on the run. Afghanistan is no longer a base of operations. The Afghan government is a friendly government that is trying to bring democracy to its people.
Condoleezza Rice
#94. What the United States has done is to be open to people who are fleeing tyranny, who are fleeing danger, but we have done it in a very careful way that has worked for us.
Condoleezza Rice
#95. That was a sin: to consider yourself victimized or not able to control your destiny or your fate - that was the one cardinal sin in our community.
Condoleezza Rice
#97. I've always said that I expected to grow up and get married like any nice southern girl, but the fact is you don't get married in the abstract. You find someone that you'd like to be married to.
Condoleezza Rice
#98. We needed to go back on the offense and offer clear leadership on Iraq.
Condoleezza Rice
#99. It is high time that the international community tell Saddam Hussein and his regime that this is not an issue of negotiation with the U.N. about obligations that they undertook in 1991.
Condoleezza Rice
#100. Great powers can't get tired, because the international order is not self-governing.
Condoleezza Rice
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