Top 133 Hillary Clinton Quotes

My favorite short stories are by Alice Munro, especially her collections ‘Carried Away’ and ‘Runaway.’

The Arctic is going to be an area of intense interest. Russia has the longest coastline in the world with the Arctic.

Look, I’m outspoken.

Oh, I’ve never been asked a silly question in my entire life.

What we have to do… is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.

I think the world would be a lot better off if more people were to define themselves in terms of their own standards and values and not what other people said or thought about them.

‘Smart power’ is the use of American power in ways that would help prevent and resolve conflict – not just send our military in.

Tonight, tonight we’ve reached a milestone in our nation’s march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president. Standing here, standing here as my mother’s daughter, and my daughter’s mother, I’m so happy this day has come.

I’ve often thought that the gauntlet of American politics is more individualistic, more expensive, more unpredictable than in many other democracies.

Well, I think, by definition, all power has limits.

I think we have to face the reality that in a society where there is a legitimate threat of terrorism, not being able to see one’s face, not being able to have some sense of communication in that way, is for many societies a challenge.

Sometimes overturning brutal regimes takes time and costs lives. I wish it weren’t so. I really, really do.

Everybody feels they have been trespassed upon, and nearly everybody has trespassed on somebody else, maybe not intentionally.

There is no part of the world that is irrelevant to the United States anymore.

What I found when I became Secretary of State was a lot of doubts and a lot of concerns and fears from friends, allies, around the world.

I, for one, respect those who believe with all their hearts and conscience that there are no circumstances under which any abortion should ever be available.

There is nothing fast or easy about diplomacy. I have no illusions about that.

You know, people make a lot of money talking about me, don’t they?

As I speak to you today, government censors somewhere are working furiously to erase my words from the records of history. But history itself has already condemned these tactics.

I believe that eventually, one of the next big issues that will have to be addressed globally is the role of state-owned enterprises. Because there is a disadvantage that’s built in.

I have to defend my husband.

I won the youth vote in Massachusetts and in California. I did very well with it in Ohio.

I’ve always been intrigued by the Senate, and admired many of the people who have served there.

In the aftermath of September 11, and as the 9/11 Commission report so aptly demonstrates, it is clear that our intelligence system is not working the way that it should.

When you have armed militants, aided and abetted by a major country like Russia, able to use surface-to-air missiles to bring down a commercial airline, that is a form of terrorism.

Probably my worst quality is that I get very passionate about what I think is right.

I helped to restore America’s leadership.

My overall goal is to level the playing field for American businesses.

Whether a woman’s running for office or she’s supporting her husband who’s running for office and she gets criticised for wearing open-toed shoes or for the colour of her coat, there’s just a lot of history that you bear if you are a woman who puts herself out in the political arena.

You don’t make peace with your friends. That’s the bottom line. You end conflicts by trying to find some political resolution.

It became clear to me that simply caring is not enough. To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws. You need both understanding and action.

I mean, honestly, we have to be clear that the life for many Afghan women is not that much different than it was a hundred years ago, 200 years ago. The country has lived with so much violence and conflict that many people, men and women, just want it to be over.

I am someone who hopes for the best and prepares for the worst.

There is no formula that I’m aware of for being a successful or fulfilled woman today.

I’ve been really at the highest levels of American political life.

I think I’m chronically exhausted.

Most importantly I never sent classified material on my email and I never received any that was marked classified.

If you believe you can make a difference, not just in politics, in public service, in advocacy around all these important issues, then you have to be prepared to accept that you are not going to get 100 percent approval.

We can’t go to people who have lost their job at GM and say, ‘Oh, by the way, we are going to pay money to build a road here or inoculate children there,’ unless we can demonstrate that it is in America’s interest. I happen to think it is.

On some campuses, change is effected through nonviolent or even violent means.

When does life start? When does it end? Who makes these decisions?… Every day, in hospitals and homes and hospices… people are struggling with those profound issues.

Now, look, I – I like to look at evidence. I plead to that. I think evidence is important when you’re making decisions that affect other people’s lives.

I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives.

You can’t just give a speech and expect people to fall down and agree with you.

We’ll hold out our hand; they have to unclench their fist.

Many of you are well enough off that the tax cuts may have helped you. We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.

I’m somebody who gets up every day and says, ‘What am I going to do today, and how am I going to do it?’ I think it moves me toward some outcome I’m hoping for and also has some, you know, some joy attached to it.

The most important questions for anybody thinking of running for president are not ‘Will you run and can you win?’ There is, ‘What is your vision for America? And can you lead us there?’

I believe climate change is real and that we can save our planet while creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs.

I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas.

I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century.

One of the great things about my mother is she really valued people’s character more than what they did.

I sometimes think that I didn’t leave the Republican Party, as much as it left me.

No nation can meet the world’s challenges alone.

I can’t stand whining.

Now, I have always believed that women are not victims; we are agents of change, we are drivers of progress, we are makers of peace – all we need is a fighting chance.

I think that we have to be constantly asking ourselves, ‘How do we calculate the risk?’ And sometimes we don’t calculate it correctly; we either overstate it or understate it.

It is often when night looks darkest, it is often before the fever breaks that one senses the gathering momentum for change, when one feels that resurrection of hope in the midst of despair and apathy.

One of my goals upon becoming Secretary of State was to take diplomacy out of capitals, out of government offices, into the media, into the streets of countries.

My feeling is if you’re going to be a leader, you have to carefully assess where people are and where people want to go.

Well, I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans and independents, for the struggling, the striving, the successful, for all those who vote for me and for those who don’t. For all Americans together.

When women participate in peace-making and peace-keeping, we are all safer and more secure.

I’ve never understood the division between so-called realists and so-called idealists.

The Russians and the Chinese have been absolutely clear they don’t want to see Iran with a nuclear weapon.

You know, everybody has setbacks in their life, and everybody falls short of whatever goals they might set for themselves. That’s part of living and coming to terms with who you are as a person.

No matter what you think about the Iraq war, there is one thing we can all agree on for the next days – we have to salute the courage and bravery of those who are risking their lives to vote and those brave Iraqi and American soldiers fighting to protect their right to vote.

Cooking, decorating, diet/self-help and gardening books are guilty pleasures and useful time fillers.

We know in New York we have several million at any one time who are in New York illegally.

Wealthy women have rights in every country. And poor women don’t.

Both the American people and nations that censor the internet should understand that our government is committed to helping promote internet freedom.

We need more good jobs that reward hard work with rising wages, dignity, and a ladder to a better life.

You feel sometimes when you hear analysts and knowledgeable people talking about Iran that they fear so much about the survival of the regime, because deep down it’s not a legitimate regime, it doesn’t represent the will of the people, it’s kind of morphed into kind of a military theocracy.

I have a lot of reason to believe, as we saw in the 2012 election, most Americans don’t agree with the extremists on any side of an issue, but there needs to continue to be an effort to find common ground, or even take it to higher ground on behalf of the future.

When you’re down on yourself, and when you are hunkering down and pulling back, you’re not going to make any better decisions than when you were aggressively, belligerently putting yourself forward.

I think every election is sui generis. I think it starts with where we are in the country at this time, with what Americans are thinking, feeling and hoping, and it proceeds from there. And it is always about the future.

Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.

I’ve had extraordinary good luck with my health, other than a broken elbow.

I also believe that we have an extraordinary opportunity for the United States and European Union to lead the world in developing and implementing new and more efficient technologies – smart electrical grids and electrical vehicles.

I take vitamins.

I learned to be far more skeptical of what I’m told by presidents, no matter who the presidents are, and also to be much more cautious, always, in any action or vote that could lead to the use of American military power and most particularly what we call ‘boots on the ground.’

I will read anything by Laura Hillenbrand, Walter Isaacson, Barbara Kingsolver, John le Carre, John Grisham, Hilary Mantel, Toni Morrison, Anna Quindlen and Alice Walker.

Now I know that Wal-Mart’s policies do not reflect the best way of doing business and the values that I think are important in America.

American politics is always an open competition.

Remember, before they called it Obamacare, they called it Hillarycare.

I had a personal email when I was in the Senate, as the vast majority of senators do. It was very convenient. I did all of my business on personal emails.

I would be delighted if the United States could have a positive relationship with Russia, and I would be thrilled if the Russian people, who are so capable, had a normal country that they could chart a different future.

Dynamism is a function of change.

I think that if you live long enough, you realize that so much of what happens in life is out of your control, but how you respond to it is in your control. That’s what I try to remember.

I am neither frustrated nor planning anything other than being the best Secretary of State I could be.

India has reduced its dependence on Iranian oil. I know their refineries have stopped asking for orders to purchase Iranian oil.

Well I think in a marriage you have to be honest and ask yourself, you know, what is my role? What is my responsibility?

I have to tell you, as your Secretary of State, I went to 112 countries, and when people hear those words, they hear America. So don’t let anyone tell you that our country is weak. We’re not. Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t have what it takes. We do.

Freedom means the right of people to assemble, organize, and debate openly.

Today we voted as Democrats and Republicans. Tomorrow we begin again as New Yorkers.

I feel like I have had the most amazing life in my public service.

You know no one will ever accuse me as having the same policies as George W. Bush.

Gay rights are human rights.

George W. Bush is very popular in Sub-Saharan Africa. Why? Because of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief.

I try to read for pleasure whenever I can – it’s a great way just to shut it off for a while so your brain doesn’t get fried.

I wish I were taller and thinner but the hair you can do something about.

The first lesson I’ve learned is that no matter what you do in your life, you have to figure out your own internal rhythms – I mean, what works for you doesn’t necessarily work for your friend.

Now there is a new request. To release transcripts of speeches that were given. When everybody agrees to do that, I will as well. It is important we all abide by the same standards. So let’s do the tax return standard first, because that has been the standard for a long time.

I am repeating the facts and the facts are I did not send nor did I receive material marked classified.

I was not going to attack Palin just for being a woman appealing for support from other women.

The United States, obviously, has a great interest in helping to maintain peace and security in Europe, and we have a formal alliance, NATO, to do so.

I think it’s fair to say that diplomacy today requires much more of that if you’re the United States of America than it did 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

It’s impossible to know what happens in the fog of war.

Voting is the most precious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our voting process.

There are some people in politics and in the press who can’t be confused by the facts. They just will not live in an evidence-based world. And that’s regrettable.

The First Lady role is really difficult. It has no job description… You have to create it for yourself.

I feel like every day, every minute I have to make the most of.

I used to sit on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder why the Senate was always going into recess, until in my first year I realized how intense the pressure was.

Children today will grow up taking for granted that an African-American or a woman can, yes, become the president of the United States.

You know, just to be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic – you name it.

My two secrets to staying healthy: wash your hands all the time. And, if you can’t, use Purell or one of the sanitizers. And the other is hot peppers. I eat a lot of hot peppers. I for some reason started doing that in 1992, and I swear by it.

Showing up is not all of life – but it counts for a lot.

Going out and playing football or baseball with the boys, when I was a tomboy, was a great way to learn about winning and losing, and most girls didn’t have that experience.

There’s a difference between fair game and playing games.

There hasn’t been anybody whose life has been picked apart and distorted as much as mine.

I don’t think feminism, as I understand the definition, implies the rejection of maternal values, nurturing children, caring about the men in your life. That is just nonsense to me.

When an army unit returns from service in Iraq or Afghanistan, it barely gets a breather before it begins training for its next deployment.

I believe in delegating power.

Well, I think both Russia and China have a very strong aversion to interference in internal affairs.

Now, I know there are many Americans who say, ‘Get out of Afghanistan. Bring ’em all home.’ And there are others who say, ‘Put in hundreds of thousands of more.’

I learned some valuable lessons about the legislative process, the importance of bipartisan cooperation and the wisdom of taking small steps to get a big job done.

I meet with people all day long.

Part of diplomacy is to open different definitions of self-interest.

When I became secretary of state, I felt one of my primary jobs was building relationships around the world.

It is past time for women to take their rightful place, side by side with men, in the rooms where the fates of peoples, where their children’s and grandchildren’s fates, are decided.

Dignity does not come from avenging insults, especially from violence that can never be justified. It comes from taking responsibility and advancing our common humanity.

If you can’t compete fairly, honestly, effectively, no government should intervene. Now, some governments do. They prop up failing industries.

Several people have told me that one of the most meaningful events they could attend would be something at the White House with their children.

Everyone can change.