We've organized human potential and have been better at using human potential better than any country on the face of the Earth. That's because we've recognized that our national creed, our national identity, is that it doesn't matter where you're from, it matters where you're going. You can come from hard circumstances and do great things. We've got to make that true for a whole variety of people who no longer feel that.

Power is nothing unless you can turn it into influence.

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.

We [USA] need to deal with our problems here at home if we're going to be strong enough to lead abroad.

We're in the middle of the transformation of a society that has handled its politics through repression to a society that will handle its politics through democratic institutions.

Everyone wants Russia to be a prosperous, democratic state that is fully integrated.

[I'm] very fortunate and blessed person who still has a lot of living to do.