Top 109 Quotes & Sayings by Susan Rice

The United States share of the African market it's very small, it's only about 8 percent.

The larger picture here is that a North Korea with nuclear weapons adds to the larger proliferation risk.

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.

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.

I am a team player - and that is what you need to be an effective point guard. You gotta see the court, you gotta set up the play, and you gotta let others execute for the most part. I don't throw elbows for the sake of throwing elbows, but if somebody throws one at me and it's necessary to respond in kind, I suppose I can if I have to.

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.

Well, Nigeria has played a constructive role in peacekeeping in various parts of West Africa. But unless and until Nigeria itself is democratic and respects human rights, it too may well be a source of much greater instability as political repression limits the ability of the people of Nigeria to achieve their full potential.

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.

I have been to Libya and walked the streets of Benghazi myself.

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 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.

We've seen violent responses to 'Satanic Verses.' We've seen violent responses to the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in an evil way.

Americans are hungry for change both at home and in our relations with the rest of 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.

One can't erase the tremendous burden of apartheid in 10 years, 20 years, I believe, even 30 years.

What I learned is that policymakers have to force consideration of actions that may not have occurred to them at the time.

In this day and age, the U.S. and Europe do not have the luxury of focusing solely on a single region.

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.

I think most Americans understand that we went through a period in which American leadership was judged quite critically internationally.

Iran's economy is now shrinking by 1 percent a year. Its oil production is down 40 percent.

Americans understand that our security is enhanced when the United States is trusted and respected in the world.

South Africa's increasingly, for example, the largest foreign investor in various other parts of Africa.

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 would rather be alone and a loud voice for action than be silent.

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.

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.

My kids have been incredibly supportive of the work that I do. They understand why it matters.

The kids are Job One. So, to be quite candid, if they need me, I do my utmost to make sure I'm there.

I am a direct person.

The U.S. cannot go it alone simply when it is convenient.

I am very aware of being black and female because that's what I am.

The Russians are clearly already engaged in a proxy war against the government of Ukraine. And that is something that we and the rest of the world have actively condemned and sanctioned Russia already heavily for, particularly the United States, as we have imposed now meaningful, tough sanctions in critical sectors, including the defense sector, the financial sector, and the energy sector.

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.

We have been very clear that Israel has an undeniable right to self-defense and that the rockets that it has faced coming out of Gaza incessantly, the tunnels that are legion and are being used to infiltrate into Israel are very legitimate security concerns, for which they have an obligation - against which they have an obligation to act.

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.

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.

There are plenty of meetings, receptions, dinners, and so if you are [at the U.N.] any length of time, and I was there for four and a half years, you formed pretty significant relationships with people from all over the world. And that's important to the work you do. If you're trying to rally the General Assembly to vote for something that matters to the United States, those personal relationships count.

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.

The notion that I had become a political lightning rod was painful for me to experience.

I don't worry about how folks want to characterize me.

President Obama is perhaps the smartest person I've ever worked with.

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.

People are consuming the news that is comfortable for them, not necessarily the news that is real or that they need to know.

If you want change, you have to make it. If we want progress we have to drive it.

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.

I have to separate my personal concerns from my professional responsibilities.

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.

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.

Change doesn't happen with people sitting on their behinds, getting lazy.

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.

Focus on something that stirs your soul, it's hard to excel at anything that you don't love.

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.

We have to know who we are and know what we believe.

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 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 was very happy in my job at the United Nations.

We should learn to tolerate nuclear weapons of North Korea just like we did the Soviet Union.

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.

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.

Syria is a civil war. Syria began as a popular uprising, just like the other experiences in the Arab Spring, with a repressive government that responded by basically killing the protesters. It's not a genocide, it's a war, and there's a difference. Genocide is a preplanned attack on people because of who they are. This is a interstate conflict.