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

Often if you don't speak up, whatever you thought was stupid to say some man would say and then everyone would say 'as he said'.

Today, I say that no nation in the world need be left out of the global system we are constructing.

While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.

I didn't want to set up a women's studies program. I thought women should learn to operate in a coeducational atmosphere, because, especially in national security and international affairs, it's male-dominated.

Glass ceilings have been broken, but more have to be broken.

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.