#437: Secretary Madeleine Albright — Optimism, The Future of the US, and 450-Pound Leg Presses

Do what you've been asked to do because your reputation follows you everywhere.

Recently, I was asked to describe myself in six words: worried optimist, problem solver, grateful American.

Freedom of the press is essential, and I am worried about it ... So many people get their news through their own echo chambers.

It's absolutely essential to put yourself into the shoes of the person that you're talking to—to know what it is that they want, and diplomacy is the way to find out.

The most famous thing I ever said was, 'There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.' It was so famous that it ended up on a Starbucks cup.

I'm not a person who thinks the world would be entirely different if it were run by women—if you think that, you've forgotten what high school was like.

The best quote in the whole book ["Fascism: A Warning"] is from Mussolini, which is, 'If you pluck a chicken one feather at a time, nobody notices.'

I think information and a free press are the lifeblood of a democratic society.

When we're trying to solve difficult national issues, it's sometimes necessary to talk to adversaries as well as friends. Historians have a word for this: diplomacy.

Foreign policy is just trying to get some country to do what you want—that's all it is.

There's no speech or book I've ever written that doesn't quote Robert Frost. One quote of his that I like: 'The older I am, the younger are my teachers.'

The countries that have managed to deal with the virus [COVID-19] are the ones run by women: New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, and Taiwan.