Hard Choices Quotes

“Along the way, I’ve tried not to make the same mistake twice, to learn, to adapt, and to pray for the wisdom to make better choices in the future.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“learn to take criticism seriously but not personally.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“All of us face hard choices in our lives. Some face more than their share. We have to decide how to balance the demands of work and family. Caring for a sick child or an aging parent. Figuring out how to pay for college. Finding a good job, and what to do if you lose it. Whether to get married—or stay married. How to give our kids the opportunities they dream about and deserve. Life is about making such choices. Our choices and how we handle them shape the people we become. For leaders and nations, they can mean the difference between war and peace, poverty and prosperity.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“I’m often asked how I take the criticism directed my way. I have three answers: First, if you choose to be in public life, remember Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice and grow skin as thick as a rhinoceros. Second, learn to take criticism seriously but not personally. Your critics can actually teach you lessons your friends can’t or won’t. I try to sort out the motivation for criticism, whether partisan, ideological, commercial, or sexist, analyze it to see what I might learn from it, and discard the rest. Third, there is a persistent double standard applied to women in politics - regarding clothes, body types, and of course hairstyles - that you can’t let derail you. Smile and keep going.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“Do all the good you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“The coldest peace is better than the warmest war.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“One thing that has never been a hard choice for me is serving our country. It has been the greatest honor of my life.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“While there are few problems in today’s world that the United States can solve alone, there are even fewer that can be solved without the United States. Everything that I have done and seen has convinced me that America remains the “indispensable nation.” I am just as convinced, however, that our leadership is not a birthright. It must be earned by every generation.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“While there are few problems in today’s world that the United States can solve alone, there are even fewer that can be solved without the United States. Everything that I have done and seen has convinced me that America remains the “indispensable nation.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“It was reinforced by my family’s Methodist faith, which taught us, “Do all the good you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“As much as I might have wanted to, I could never change my vote on Iraq. But I could try to help us learn the right lessons from that war and apply them to Afghanistan and other challenges where we had fundamental security interests. I was determined to do exactly that when facing future hard choices, with more experience, wisdom, skepticism, and humility.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“There’s a Girl Scouts song I learned in elementary school: “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other gold.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“When you are in a common boat, cross the river peacefully together.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“As Secretary of State I had the chance to make the world a little safer and life a little better for children in America and across the globe, including in China. I viewed it as the opportunity and the responsibility of a lifetime. That”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“(The term Islamist generally refers to people and parties who support a guiding role for Islam in politics and government. It covers a wide spectrum, from those who think Islamic values should inform public policy decisions to those who think all laws should be judged or even formulated by Islamic authorities to conform to Islamic law. Not all Islamists are alike. In some cases, Islamist leaders and organizations have been hostile to democracy, including some who have supported radical, extremist, and terrorist ideology and actions. But around the world, there are political parties with religious affiliations—Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Muslim—that respect the rules of democratic politics, and it is in America’s interest to encourage all religiously based political parties and leaders to embrace inclusive democracy and reject violence. Any suggestion that faithful Muslims or people of any faith cannot thrive in a democracy is insulting, dangerous, and wrong. They do it in our own country every day.)”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices: A Memoir

“Football coaches meet midfield after a game, but they don't always hug”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“Polls show that Americans significantly overestimate the percentage of the federal budget allocated to foreign aid. In November 2013, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that, on average, Americans believe that 28 percent of the federal budget is spent on foreign assistance, and more than 60 percent of people say that’s too much. But in reality we spend less than 1 percent of the budget on foreign aid.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“Afterward Joe Biden greeted me outside the green room, falling on bent knee to kiss my hand. (Who says chivalry is dead!)”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“When your President asks you to serve, you should say yes.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“had campaigned hard to the very end, but Barack had won and now it was time to support him. The causes and people I had campaigned for, the Americans who had lost jobs and health care, who couldn’t afford gas or groceries or college, who had felt invisible to their government for the previous seven years, now depended on his becoming the forty-fourth President of the United States.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“He reminded me to focus on the “trendlines,” not just the headlines, and to relish the experiences.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“Let there be learning, even under the shade of trees.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“While we can and must work to reduce the danger, the only way to eliminate risk entirely is to retreat entirely and to accept the consequences of the void we leave behind. When America is absent, extremism takes root, our interests suffer, and our security at home is threatened. There are some who believe that is the better choice; I am not one of them.

Retreat is not the answer; it won’t make the world a safer place, and it’s just not in our country’s DNA. When faced with setbacks and tragedies, Americans have always worked harder and smarter. We strive to learn from our mistakes and avoid repeating them. And we do not shrink from the challenges ahead. That is what we must continue to do.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“It seemed hard to believe that human beings could be capable of such cruelty, and in the name of God. Sickened”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“There is an old Burmese proverb: “When it rains, collect water.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“You’re on the right path. As you know, there will be hard choices and difficult obstacles to overcome,” I said, “[but] this is an opportunity for you to leave an historic legacy for your country.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“It was concern for the welfare of children that got me into public service in the first place.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“I pledged that the United States would be a strong partner to all those across Asia and the world who were dedicated to human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices

“Without the free exchange of ideas and strong rule of law, innovation and entrepreneurship wither. I”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hard Choices