Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Can I be blunt? Yes. Can I be diplomatic? Yes. Can I concoct a mixture of vinegar and honey when the circumstances warrant? Yes.
I was conscious of the fact that it could be to my disadvantage to marry a white guy - that some folks would hold that against me.
It may not be what you would've chosen, but we all have a responsibility to be active citizens and shape our system and our future.
I'm sort of in this rhythm where we want to make the most of the time we have, but when it's done it will be time for it to be done.
I am blunt sometimes; I am diplomatic sometimes; I am all things in between. Abrasive, you know, I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.
You can't sit on the sidelines and read your iPhone and be on social media and expect everything to be cool. You have to be part of this.
I think most Americans understand that we went through a period in which American leadership was judged quite critically internationally.
I spend every day up at the United Nations where I have to interact with 192 other countries. I know how well the United States is viewed.
I have a range, and I'd much rather do things the nice way than the hard way, but sometimes you have to use all the tools at your disposal.
We've seen violent responses to 'Satanic Verses.' We've seen violent responses to the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in an evil way.
We are safer if there are not nuclear arsenals around the planet that can be utilized, stolen, sold to terrorists and others who would do harm.
Once you've learned to study in a bathing suit on the grass with muscled men throwing frisbees over your head, you can accomplish almost anything.
What we have done is when the threat has been directed at the United States, i.e., the terrorist threat from ISIL or Al-Qaeda in Syria, is to go after them.
I read a ton of paper every day. I read the newspapers, I read my intelligence materials, I read all the briefing materials. I read the newspaper in hard copy.
Legislation that would withhold funding for the United Nations is fundamentally flawed in concept and practice, sets us back, is self-defeating, and doesn't work.
Be who you are. If you spend all of your time worrying about how people view you, you will not be either faithful to yourself or effective in what you're trying to do.
I like to think that with me, what you see is what you get, and you can like or dislike it, it's up to you, but it's straight. That's something that I pride myself on.
I've taken my knocks here and there, but I believe my intentions are good. Doesn't mean everything I do is perfectly executed or I don't make mistakes. Of course I do.
Progress is the product of human agency. Things get better because we make them better. Things go wrong when we get too comfortable, when we fail to take risks or seize opportunities.
There is not an inherent contradiction between a Ukraine that has longstanding historic and cultural ties to Russia, and a modern Ukraine that wants to integrate more closely with Europe.
I think people have confidence that I will fairly and accurately represent their point of view to the President, and that I'm not going to put a spin on it, even if I may disagree with it.
Iran's arms exports to the murderous Assad regime in Syria are of particular concern. As the Panel of Experts has concluded, Syria is now the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers.
Peace, prosperity, and democracy cannot endure if imposed from the outside. We should cease to make false distinctions between peacekeeping and prevention; they are in fact inextricably linked.
The United States of America is the leading power in the world. Our friends and our adversaries respect us in large measure because they know that we are steady. We are fact-based. We are serious.
We must be honest in acknowledging that neither Germany nor the US has the luxury of assuming that we can skate by on half-measures in Afghanistan and Pakistan and not risk suffering the consequences.
We must be honest in acknowledging that neither Germany nor the U.S. has the luxury of assuming that we can skate by on half-measures in Afghanistan and Pakistan and not risk suffering the consequences.
There are no cookie-cutter solutions that you can apply from one circumstance to another. They're different. Our interests, as implicated, are different. The tools we have at our disposal are different.
I do leisure reading but I don't get to do it like, at one in the morning. When I getting up at six in the morning, so I do most of my leisure reading on vacation and on airplanes and that sort of stuff.
I think one of the real issues that we're faced with is how we consume news, how the media is perceived, how fake news is gaining a degree of currency without criticism that is dangerous, in my judgement.
Thirty years ago, about 80% of a company's assets resided in its plant and equipment, with 20% in the knowledge of its people. Today, the reverse is true. The knowledge of our staff is our principal asset
The youth thing never really, from my vantage point, slowed me down. I think the harder audience for me to gain acceptance from was the career diplomatic corps that worked with and for me in the Africa Bureau.
We have some straight journalism, but then we have opinion and perspective. And I think a lot of people, especially young people, don't know how to tell the difference, and aren't motivated to tell the difference.
As Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak have repeatedly said, the intelligence and security relationship between the United States and Israel at present is unprecedented. It has never been stronger.
It's not the day in which I grew up, long time ago, where we had three news networks. No cable, no social media, no internet. Where what you see is what you got. We had basically straight journalism. We don't have that anymore.
We know that weapons, heavy weapons continue to flow across the border from Russia into Ukraine. And we have now, in recent days, indications that Russians - Russian military units themselves have, on occasion, fired into Ukraine.
The notion that -- which some people are trying to suggest, that by asking for the identity of an American person, that is the same as leaking it, is completely false. There's no equivalence between so-called unmasking and leaking.
There was a hateful video that was disseminated on the internet. It had nothing to do with the United States government and it's one that we find disgusting and reprehensible. It's been offensive to many, many people around the world.
Our bottom line, if you want to call it a red line, president's bottom line has been that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon and we will take no option off the table to ensure that it does not acquire a nuclear weapon, including the military option.
We also have begun to assess with the Ukrainians the scope of their larger security assistance requirements. We have had teams out making that assessment with the Ukrainians. And we have already provided various forms of equipment and support to Ukraine.
One of the things I love about negotiations is that you have to be able to play it like an orchestra, different instruments for different circumstances. There's sweetness, and encouragement, and cajoling. There's pressure, there's drama, there's ultimatums.
It is manifestly in the interest of the United States to deal with the very real threat that climate change poses. And that's why President Obama has worked so hard to reduce our own emissions and to lead internationally in forging the Paris climate agreement.
I think it's very, very important that in foreign policy and national security decision making, as in any other realm, that there be a range of diversity that reflects the full complexity of America. We should draw on those experiences to inform our decision making.
I'm apologetic when I feel like I've made a mistake. And when I have done a disservice to myself or someone else. But I don't feel a need to apologize for doing or saying something that I think needs to be said, just because it may not sit comfortably with somebody else.
We're well aware, and we have been for a long time, that there is a real threat from adversaries, state actors, non-state actors, to hack us, influence us, destroy stuff through cyber means. Because cyber threat has been understood for a while, it's longstanding, it's a concern.
Well, I think by any expectation South Africa has come a tremendously long way. We've seen a society that many people thought couldn't withstand a peaceful transition to democracy without a great deal of violence, in fact, make that transition and do it in relative peace and security.
I am straight forward; I am not manipulative; I am not two-faced. And I think that that has served me well in all of my roles, particularly as a diplomat, because people knew if I said something, I meant it. If I said no, I meant no, and if I said we could make this work, we would make it work.
If you're trying to get something done, there will always be people who don't want to see you get something done, or who have a stake in the status quo. And if they approach that through ad hominem criticism of you, you've got to have enough confidence and thickness of skin to be able to endure.
For the United States to recommit itself to the obligation that we undertook in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that many other states undertook, which was to work towards disarmament and the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, is something that manifestly serves our national security interests.
If we are to garner sustained U.S. domestic support for future trade agreements, we have to make sure those Americans who have suffered as a consequence of past agreements have an effective social safety net, adjustment assistance, opportunities for retraining and new job creation that enables all Americans to thrive.
I was working with a number of African heads of state. And after their initial surprise, I think many of them just treated me as they would anybody else. They had to deal with me as a representative of the United States of America, and the United States of America was too important to be dismissed or ignored on any grounds.