I can't see democracy occurring by force - after an Iraqi war, because of the fallout from that.

I think the personal relationships I established mattered in terms of what I was able to get done. And I did bring women's issues to the center of our foreign policy.

I think we all are people that are the product of our backgrounds. It's wrong to think that you're not.

Real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing.

Why, since man and woman were created for each other, had He made their desires so dissimilar? Why should one class of women be able to dwell in luxurious seclusion from the trials of life, while another class performed their loathsome tasks? Surely His wisdom had not decreed that one set of women should live in degradation and in the end should perish that others might live in security, preserve their frappeed chastity, and in the end be saved.

I don't actually believe in a clash of civilizations. I believe in a clash of the civilized and the noncivilized.

Bill Clinton valued my opinion and always made sure that my views were heard, and people knew that he wanted me to talk.