Top 50 Condoleezza Rice Quotes

I don’t think anybody can take the word of Saddam Hussein and his regime, and certainly an American president and allies who are obligated to worry about the safety and security of our countries, cannot take the word of this dictator, who lies, pathologically lies.

Any time you have a situation in which you are calling for more time rather than calling for Iraq to immediately comply, it plays into the hands of Saddam Hussein.

My parents elected me president of the family when I was 4. We actually had an election every year, and I always won. I’m an only child, and I could count on my mother’s vote.

I’m a very happy university professor… the best thing about being a university professor is that you see young people as they’re being shaped and molded toward their own future, and you have a chance to be a part of that.

Let me let you in on a little secret. There is no such thing as an international community. There are self-maximizing, self-interested states that will push their interests as far as possible.

I would like to attract more minorities into the game. But it’s extremely important that this golf look like – that golf look like America.

My mom was a teacher – I have the greatest respect for the profession – we need great teachers – not poor or mediocre ones.

I believe that while race-neutral means are preferable, it is appropriate to use race as one factor among others in achieving a diverse student body.

The people of the Middle East share the desire for freedom. We have an opportunity – and an obligation – to help them turn this desire into reality.

I think there are still unanswered questions about Benghazi. I think there are unanswered questions, and they could be easily answered. But I think they need to be answered.

I got the chance to be the secretary of state; I’m an international relations specialist. It doesn’t get better than that.

I’m not a politician.

Now, al Qaeda’s on the run. Afghanistan is no longer a base of operations. The Afghan government is a friendly government that is trying to bring democracy to its people.

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.

We are not race blind. Of course we still have racial tensions in this country. But the United States of America has made enormous progress in race relations, and it is still the best place on Earth to be a minority.

I wish someone had put a golf club in my hands, not skates on my feet. It is a really great game for business. It’s a great game for making connections.

Football is like war. It’s about taking territory.

I’m actually – believe it or not, for an academic – an aural learner.

My father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did.

You go to war when there is a security threat, and Saddam Hussein was seen as a threat to our interests and our security.

We need a common enemy to unite us.

We needed to go back on the offense and offer clear leadership on Iraq.

What you know today can affect what you do tomorrow. But what you know today cannot affect what you did yesterday.

If you love Russia, you have to love Godunov.

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.

I am a professor at Stanford; I am a happy professor at Stanford. That’s where I’m staying.

We can’t afford to leave Afghanistan to the Taliban and the terrorists.

We will continue to work together in our common fight against terror.

People have the right to protest – that’s what democracy is all about. I have no problem with people exercising their democratic rights.

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.

I’ve found that in places where women have not really been afforded full rights yet – for instance, in the Middle East – even very conservative politicians in the region will say, ‘You know, my daughter would really like to meet you,’ or, ‘Would you send a note to my granddaughter?’

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.

I know a lot of very stable gay couples.

I’m quite content to spend my life helping young people find themselves. I’ve had my fill of politics.

Some governments choose to cooperate with the United States in intelligence, law enforcement, or military matters. The co-operation is a two-way street. We share intelligence that has helped protect European countries from attack, helping save European lives.

You aren’t going to be successful as a diplomat if you don’t understand the strategic context in which you are actually negotiating. It is not deal making. It’s not.

After all, when the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful political and economic experiment in human history.

We can have a new vision, one even greater than the system they gave us after World War II. Everyone can pursue happiness and freedom and peace.

Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same.

What the United States has done is to be open to people who are fleeing tyranny, who are fleeing danger, but we have done it in a very careful way that has worked for us.

People notice if you are black. People notice if you are female. We are certainly not either colorblind or gender-blind in this country, so I’m not suggesting that it isn’t a factor. But I think in the final analysis, people will take a look at the positions, and they’ll take a look at the issues.

Does anybody think these people were just sitting around drinking tea?

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.

When you’re on a golf course, a couple of things are very interesting. No matter who you’re with and who you’re playing with, people want each other to do well.

We’re in a new world. We’re in a world in which the possibility of terrorism, married up with technology, could make us very, very sorry that we didn’t act.

My dad was not someone who you would strike with a billy club and he wouldn’t strike back. It just wasn’t in him.

That was a sin: to consider yourself victimized or not able to control your destiny or your fate – that was the one cardinal sin in our community.

So I think, if September 11 taught us anything, it taught us that we’re vulnerable, and vulnerable in ways that we didn’t fully understand.

But the truth of the matter is, we’re an open society, we want to remain an open society, and there will continue to be vulnerability. That’s why we have to meet the threats when they are not yet taking place on our territory and on our soil.

We will have to stand up for and promote the power and promise of free markets and free peoples, and affirm that American preeminence safeguards rather than impedes global progress.