Top 56 Quotes & Sayings by Paula Broadwell
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American writer Paula Broadwell.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
I introduced myself to then-Lieutenant General Petraeus and told him about my research interests; he gave me his card and offered to put me in touch with other researchers and service members working on the same issues.
I was driven when I was younger. Driven at West Point where it was much more competitive in that women were competing with men on many levels, and I was driven in the military and at Harvard, both competitive environments.
I think it is important for working moms to recognize that family is the most important.
I grew up in a strong faith-based family. I think I have selected to return to those roots for strength, for my family, for myself and to protect our children and to forgive others and move on and face forward.
Yes, I wear a number of hats. But my most important title is mom and wife.
Even when you've made mistakes in life, you can still contribute and pick up the stuff and move on.
A few months into my research, General Petraeus, who was then leading Central Command, invited me to go for a run with him and his team along the Potomac River during one of his visits to Washington. I figured I could interview him while we ran.
We have to raise our young boys to respect women and our young girls to demand respect and to get their values from something other than their physicality.
My local paper, The New York Times, Yahoo News, CBS, and The Washington Post, all agreed to stop using the word 'mistress.' The big one was the Associated Press. They made a style change, and it's the gold standard that sets the guide for news outlets around the world. That's a small step for the American language, a medium step for feminism, and a huge step for me personally.
When I get this kind of support, I feel validated in my decision to stand up for myself.
It's the fact that you can reduce my whole life to one word, whatever it is, my entire career, my service to my country, my academic rigor, my courage in going to interview terrorists, and refugee camps, and third-world prisons.
I'm 100 percent serious. I've been fighting for equality for women's issues my entire life, in the military included.
Sometime ago, I teamed up with a former Marine attack helicopter pilot. We were both frustrated by biased coverage of women in the military and said, let's form some kind of nonprofit entity where we can start highlighting the prevalence of bias in the media.
I was encouraged, though, because I saw feminist writers - male and female - calling out the bias. I feel like more and more writers are cognizant of the problems and are willing to try to challenge them.
As a feminist, I'll wear whatever I want to.
[Fighting for equality for women] that's what my mission has been for the last years.
I was a Ph.D. student at a very reputable university, I was a Harvard research associate at one of the world's premier leadership institutions.
As an intelligence officer, if you don't have a security clearance, you really don't have a job. My military position was, and has been, frozen, for four years.
The national media don't know me. They know the caricature that was created of me by journalists who were frankly jealous of my access. And it was a very negative caricature. There's this propensity for blaming a woman. It comes down to implicit bias. There are so many studies that show this.
I haven't had senators advocating for me.
You need to accept responsibility for your mistakes. And I've done that.
[My kids] were very young at the time and didn't realize what was going on. We told them that mom made a mistake and people want to talk about it in the news so they're outside our house.
I think the public doesn't understand that one of the reasons I haven't stood up for myself is because in order to do that, I have to stoop to a level that further humiliates other people.
I've moved on with my life and I'm trying to find a path to re-establish my career.
You can reclaim your own narrative.
I want to serve. I love my country. I love service above self and I don't want my talents to go to waste. I also want to send a message to other men and women who've tripped over themselves, or over life: that you need to serve your time in purgatory.
I was an academic and I lost my assignment at Harvard. Meanwhile, [David Petraeus] gets invited to Harvard to become a fellow.
I don't have the advocates. I don't have a good old boys network. Part of what I want to do is to create a good old girls network.
We [in Think Broader.] went through and looked at coverage in different industries and were able to point out to newsrooms that they had these hidden biases. We'd do a review and provide a report card, and provide our suggestion on how to avoid bias.
It really felt like a tidal wave of bias washed over our country and we're still soaked in it.
Having a bunch of medals and badges doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve achieved anything, you’ve got to do something beyond yourself to make a difference in life. Seek to be consequential in whatever you do.
It's part of the reason I decided to speak out now. This was the tipping point for me. If it's O.K. for [David Petraeus ] to campaign for a job in the administration, then I'm going to campaign to get back out there, too.
The word is a label and I don't like it at all.
I was incredulous as the bias of the media in terms of the candidates [for presidency]. I was incredulous at the fake news.
I just figured, for the most part, mainstream networks stopped using [mistress word]. Those are small brush fires. The election made me realize we've got forest fires that we collectively need to be focused on.
The story is framed around [avid Petraeus] resignation. So many headlines that followed talked about his ruined career. They completely ignore the fact that my career was ruined, other peoples' careers were ruined. They focus on him as the victim.
I was in such a state of mental shock and quickly spiraled into a depression at the multitude of loss. My husband, I thought, was going to leave me. I was cut off from this mentor and someone I cared for very much, David Petraeus, who also did nothing to stand up for me and in fact, empowered his surrogates to throw me under the bus, and that was devastating.
I'm really happy for [David Petraeus]. He's exceptionally talented.
I think Donald Trump is the best person for the job. It comes back to redemption campaign rhetoric. They all say that stuff.[Barack] Obama and [Hillary] Clinton said that about each other.
If I'm strong, I'm not going to apologize for being strong.
It's reducing my entire professional career and background to this one word [mistress].
We had to communicate through our lawyers a couple of times over the years, and [David Petraeus] told me that people have been like, "Good job, Dave." Congratulating him. That's the double standard. I've concluded that sharing it won't change anything.
My peers are all in sensitive jobs - at the C.I.A., the National Security Council, working for the Department of Defense. They can't stand up for me in public.
While I fully recognize I had made a mistake in the whole relationship, and I'll call it a human error, I hesitate to call myself a victim because I strongly believe one should take responsibility for their actions.
A lot of women were betting on me because there were so few role models and I let them down. They had put me on a pedestal. I maybe enjoyed being in that limelight, but I couldn't reverse what I had done.
Hopefully women can work with [Ivanka Trump ] to influence up the chain of command. I think it's good for us, for women. It's a glimmer of hope.
Imagine what Ivanka Trump life has been like? She's been eaten alive by the media. I have empathy for that.
I had been working on a second book with [David] Petraeus called Relentless. Obviously that book and the income that it would have generated went away.
I also feel like I've done plenty of wrong things. I'm not innocent here, and I'm certainly not going to be righteous about that.
I'm not in love with David Petraeus. But I think he does present a terrific role model.
I just genuinely believe in the concept of redemption and renewal, so I was happy. When I get beyond my feelings, I had my own family and friends and so many women across America come to me and say their blood was boiling, asking me how this could happen.
When I fell, some people were in such shock that they didn't reach out. They were so mad at me, rather than having compassion for what happened. I lost a lot of friends.
I think Ivanka Trump she has this power and powerful women are reaching out to her and she needs to take advantage of that.
If Ivanka Trump called, I think good people need to serve.
My husband and I each had careers and two babies at home. They just demand everything from you. All the domestic duties fell to me and this resentment builds, as I think happens to a lot of young parents who have competing careers.
I had been sort of a rising star - an athlete, a scholar, a leader. My dream was to become a high-level national security adviser.
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