Top 150 Condoleezza Rice Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “There’s no greater challenge and there is no greater honor than to be in public service.”

— Condoleezza Rice

Featured in: Service Quotes, Dedication Quotes, Duty Quotes

2. “Every good leader is part manager and every good manager is part leader.”

— Condoleezza Rice

3. “Great leaders never accept the world as it was and always work for the world as it should be.”

— Condoleezza Rice

4. “Life is full of surprises and and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure-do it well, enjoy it-and then, not now, think about what comes next.”

— Condoleezza Rice

5. “When somebody underestimated me, it made me want to prove them wrong.”

— Condoleezza Rice

6. “Education is of no value and talent is worthless – unless you have an unwavering aim. Never find yourself without a compass.”

— Condoleezza Rice

7. “I firmly believe you never should spend your time being the former anything.”

— Condoleezza Rice

8. “Truly remarkable leadership is not just about motivating others to follow, it’s about inspiring them to become leaders themselves and setting the stage for even greater opportunities for future generations.”

— Condoleezza Rice

9. “We need a common enemy to unite us.”

— Condoleezza Rice

10. “Self esteem comes from achievements. Not from lax standards and false praise.”

— Condoleezza Rice

11. “You might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances.”

— Condoleezza Rice

12. “Power is nothing unless you can turn it into influence.”

— Condoleezza Rice

13. “What you know today can affect what you do tomorrow, but not what you did yesterday.”

— Condoleezza Rice

14. “In America, with education and hard work, it really does not matter where you came from; it matters only where you are going.”

— Condoleezza Rice

15. “Every life is capable of greatness.”

— Condoleezza Rice

16. “Defeating Human Trafficking is a great moral calling of our time.”

— Condoleezza Rice

17. “Every life is worthy and every life is capable of greatness. We have an obligation to make sure that opportunity for greatness is there.”

— Condoleezza Rice

18. “The first step for a leader is to be right with yourself. Integrity is the basis of leadership.”

— Condoleezza Rice

19. “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

— Condoleezza Rice

20. “If the strong exploit the weak, democracy will not be stable.”

— Condoleezza Rice

21. “Punish France, ignore Germany, and forgive Russia.”

— Condoleezza Rice

22. “Education is transformational. It changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated and why education has always been the key to the American Dream, the force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture and unlocks every person’s God-given potential.”

— Condoleezza Rice

23. “Leading in a complex world means recognizing the simple things you can do to make things better.”

— Condoleezza Rice

24. “The United States government does not authorise or condone torture of detainees. Torture, and conspiracy to commit torture, are crimes under US law, wherever they may occur in the world.”

— Condoleezza Rice

25. “You can never ask others to do something you would not do. That is integrity.”

— Condoleezza Rice

26. “History’s long arc is different than the today’s headlines.”

— Condoleezza Rice

27. “There are many other arrows in our diplomatic quiver.”

— Condoleezza Rice

28. “What we’re hearing from everyone is that they understand that Saddam Hussein is a threat. They understand that he’s been a threat for a long time.”

— Condoleezza Rice

29. “We need to move beyond the idea that girls can be leaders and create the expectation that they should be leaders.”

— Condoleezza Rice

30. “Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter.”

— Condoleezza Rice

31. “The Iranian people have a proud past. They merit a great future.”

— Condoleezza Rice

32. “Today’s headlines and history’s judgement are not the same.”

— Condoleezza Rice

33. “You have to have a strong sense of your values and a strong sense of who you are, because there are a lot of events and a lot of people who will pull you in this direction or that direction.”

— Condoleezza Rice

34. “What I tell student athletes is first of all, you’ve made good choices this far in order to be able to be in college and to be an athlete. Keep making good choices.”

— Condoleezza Rice

35. “The first Republican I knew was my father and he is still the Republican I most admire. He joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did. My father has never forgotten that day, and neither have I.”

— Condoleezza Rice

36. “If I can look at your zip code and I can tell whether you’re going to get a good education, we’ve got a real problem.”

— Condoleezza Rice

37. “Spirituality and faith are at the core of who I am. I was born to deeply religious parents who were able to give me that rock solid foundation in the church and in my faith which really has served me so well.”

— Condoleezza Rice

38. “Differences can be a strength.”

— Condoleezza Rice

39. “You know, I’ve never believed, in anything, that you had to have role models who looked like you to do something. If I’d been waiting for a black, female, soviet specialist role model, I’d be still waiting.”

— Condoleezza Rice

40. “The essence of America – that which really unites us – is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea – and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.”

— Condoleezza Rice

41. “You will make a difference in the world, but not immediately. Your first obligation is to find something you like doing, because if you like doing it, you’ll do it well.”

— Condoleezza Rice

42. “Well, there are many things, whenever you look back, that you would’ve done differently. We’re all human. We do our best at the time. I really wish that we had passed a comprehensive immigration bill because that would’ve really helped our country. We came close, but we couldn’t.”

— Condoleezza Rice

43. “I use the word power broadly. Even more important than military and economic power is the power of ideas, the power of compassion, and the power of hope.”

— Condoleezza Rice

44. “Multilateral diplomacy is hard. It’s slower, it’s tougher, it’s a bigger slog. I’ve learned that sometimes the things you’d most like to do something about, you really have difficulty unless the international community really mobilizes.”

— Condoleezza Rice

45. “I was born in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. I didn’t have a white classmate till we moved to Denver.”

— Condoleezza Rice

46. “Everyone wants Russia to be a prosperous, democratic state that is fully integrated.”

— Condoleezza Rice

47. “I’ve never really been a workaholic. I work very hard, but I also enjoy playing. I think it’s important to have a balanced and well-rounded life.”

— Condoleezza Rice

48. “You never cede control of your own ability to be successful to something called racism.”

— Condoleezza Rice

49. “It takes courage to set priorities because doing so is an admission that American policy cannot be all things to all people – or rather to all interest groups.”

— Condoleezza Rice

50. “I never much cared for politics. I love policy, and I love international policy in particular. I got to be Secretary of State; it really doesn’t get much better than that. I love what I do. I love being a professor.”

— Condoleezza Rice