Because of my parents’ love of democracy, we came to America after being driven twice from our home in Czechoslovakia – first by Hitler and then by Stalin.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHTThough I had never written a memoir, I was confident that given enough time, I could do a serviceable job. Not elegant, but blunt, informative and funnier than most readers would expect.
More Madeleine Albright Quotes
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I do not believe that things happen accidentally; I believe you earn them.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT -
I was taught to strive not because there were any guarantees of success but because the act of striving is in itself the only way to keep faith with life.
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I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person’s shoes.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT -
Fascism, most of the students agreed, is an extreme form of authoritarian rule. Citizens are required to do exactly what leaders say they must do, nothing more, nothing less.
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To reduce the sum of our existence to a competitive struggle for advantage among more than two hundred nations is not clear-eyed but myopic. People and nations compete, but that is not all that they do.
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Decades ago, George Orwell suggested that the best one-word description of a Fascist was bully.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT -
Good guys don’t always win, especially when they are divided and less determined than their adversaries.
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Painful the grounds for resentment, the easier it is for a Fascist leader to gain followers by dangling the prospect of renewal or by vowing to take back what has been stolen.
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Respect for the rights of others is a lofty principle; but envy is a primal urge (p114)
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Hate, emotionalism, and frustration are not policies.
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The voice and force of the United States may count for nothing if they are withheld too long.
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The real question is: who has the responsibility to uphold human rights? The answer to that is: everyone.
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Especially when we are afraid, angry, or confused, we may be tempted to give away bits of our freedom—or, less painfully, somebody else’s freedom—in the quest for direction and order.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT -
Among those welcoming Fascism and shouting Viva Mussolini that day were two hundred Jews.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT -
The main thing is to remain oneself, under any circumstances; that was and is our common purpose.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT






