We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of history but to shape history, a responsibility to fill the role of path-finder, and to build with others a global network of purpose and law.

As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view.

There are a lot of similar aspects in all the religions. The question is which side of it you hold up.

To understand Europe, you have to be a genius - or French.

I think that we had a different view of what the 21st century could be like, with much more of a sense, from our perspective, of trying to have an interdependent world: looking at solving regional conflicts, having strength in alliances, operating within some kind of a sense that we were part of the international community and not outside of it.

Women have to be active listeners and interrupters - but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about.

I think the hardest part [is] the priorities. There are an awful lot of things to do [being Secretary of State].