Condoleezza Rice Iraq Quotes

I'm saying there is no way that I will do this, because it's really not me. I know my strengths, and governor Romney needs to find someone who wants to run with him. There are many people who will do it very, very well, and I'll support the ticket. ~ Condoleezza Rice

John Lewis Gaddis had come to visit shortly before the election and over lunch said something that resonated with me. "Never forget how really dependent the world is on America. And they know it. ~ Condoleezza Rice

What I tell student athletes is first of all, you've made good choices this far in order to be able to be in college and to be an athlete. Keep making good choices. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

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

There are those who would draw a sharp line between power politics and a principled foreign policy based on values. This polarized view - you are either a realist or devoted to norms and values - may be just fine in academic debate, but it is a disaster for American foreign policy. American values are universal. ~ Condoleezza Rice

There's no greater challenge and there is no greater honor than to be in public service. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

There is nothing better than being in a classroom with really, really brilliant students, and opening up new worlds to them. That's what I love doing. ~ Condoleezza Rice

I'm a huge proponent of exchanges, student exchanges, cultural exchanges, university exchanges. We talk a lot about public diplomacy, .. It's extremely important that we get our message out, but it's also the case that we should not have a monologue with other people. It has to be a conversation, and you can't do that without exchanges and openness. ~ Condoleezza Rice

Your passion may be hard to spot, so keep an open mind and keep searching. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

Most of the people who were responsible for 9/11 are now in custody or have been killed. But there are others, and they plot and they plan, and they hope to pull it off again. And while we have to be right 100 percent of the time, they only have to be right once. So there's no way to overreact to that. ~ Condoleezza Rice

Geeks run the world. Condoleezza Rice is a geek, Bill Gates is clearly a geek, many of the big filmmakers and writers are geeks, lots of military people are geeks. Anyone who has heard Donald Rumsfeld talk about military hardware knows they are in the presence of a geek. ~ China Mieville

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

You cannot be on one hand dedicated to peace and on the other dedicated to violence. Those two things are irreconcilable. ~ Condoleezza Rice

I think it goes back to whether or not race and class - that is, race and poverty - is not becoming even more of a constraint. Because with the failing public schools, I worry that the way that my grandparents got out of poverty, the way that my parents became educated, is just not going to be there for a whole bunch of kids. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

What has always made our country special is that it doesn't matter where you come from; it matters where you're going. Our job is to make certain the pathways are open to both our boys and our girls. ~ Condoleezza Rice

As secretary of state it's been an enormous honor to represent this great country that I love so much - I have really seen that our great strengths are in the ability of people to reach their potential here. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

If you love Russia, you have to love Godunov. ~ Condoleezza Rice

I remember, when I was 6 years old, we were having an event at school where different dolls were on display. I said that the tallest doll needed to be on the end, and my little friend said to me, 'Oh, you're just so bossy.' I remember thinking that wasn't a good thing. But I kept insisting the doll had to be on the end anyway. ~ Condoleezza Rice

I grew up in a very loving middle class family. My parents were educators. I'm not even the first PhD in my family. They tried to shield me, just as other parents in my neighborhood tried to shield their children. But you knew there was a reason that you couldn't go to that theme park or to a movie theater or to a hamburger stand. They couldn't shield you completely. What they did though was they never let it be an excuse for not achieving, and they always said racism is somebody else's problem, not yours. They tried in that way not to make us bitter about Birmingham. ~ Condoleezza Rice

We need to move beyond the idea that girls can be leaders and create the expectation that they should be leaders. ~ Condoleezza Rice

Message and policy are very much a part, you know, two parts of the same coin. ~ Condoleezza Rice

The first step for a leader is to be right with yourself. Integrity is the basis of leadership. ~ Condoleezza Rice

I do not believe, given her past decisions and comments on the reasons to go to war in Iraq, that Dr. Rice will be able to represent the United States without a predetermined bias from the war. ~ Daniel Akaka

It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies- or to help the world's most desperate - the AIDS orphan in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia; the world's poorest in Haiti. Yet this assistance - together with the compassionate works of private charities - people of conscience and people of faith - has shown the soul of our country. ~ Condoleezza Rice

Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

I'm a strong believer that you have to have an equal opportunity to fail and to try things that are hard. I always tell my students, "Don't just take things that are easy for you. If you're really good at math, don't take just math. Take classes that make you write. If you're a really great writer, but bad at math, take math and make yourself work your way through it." ~ Condoleezza Rice

Even when you cherish democratic ideals, it is never easy to turn them into effective democratic institutions. This process will take decades. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

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

Diplomacy, if properly practiced, is not just talking for the sake of talking. ~ Condoleezza Rice

[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

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

It's so much a part of me that it's almost hard to describe myself in the absence of [faith]. ~ Condoleezza Rice

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

If the strong exploit the weak, democracy will not be stable. ~ Condoleezza Rice