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I Can't Imagine What It Is Like To Be Raised In A Society Where Their Only Statues That Exist Are To You And Your Father.
-Madeleine Albright
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I Can't Imagine What

Madeleine Albright
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I Can't Imagine What It Is Like To Be Raised In A Society Where Their Only Statues That Exist Are To You And Your Father.

Understanding the Quote: "i can't imagine what it is like to be raised in a..."

This quote by Madeleine Albright reflects deeply on the theme of father. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Father, Imagine, Raised, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Madeleine Albright interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright is celebrated for insightful thoughts on father and imagine. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Father
Imagine
Raised
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Iraq
Troops
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I Consider It My Patriotic Duty As An Ordinary Citizen - Not As Secretary Of State - To Ask Questions. I Think We Have To Ask Ourselves The Tough Questions.
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Well We're Good Friends So I'm A Little Prejudice, But I Think [hillary Clinton] Is Incredibly Qualified, And Better Prepared To Be President Than Almost Anyone Who's Ever Run Frankly.
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But I Do Not Believe That The World Would Be Entirely Different If There Were More Women Leaders. Maybe If Everybody In Leadership Was A Woman, You Might Not Get Into The Conflicts In The First Place. But If You Watch The Women Who Have Made It To The Top, They Haven't Exactly Been Non-aggressive - Including Me.
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Hate, Emotionalism, And Frustration Are Not Policies.
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Policy
What A Blast It Is To Be Here With Michael Moore.
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A Great Task Has Been Completed And An Even Larger One Remains.
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What You Have To Be Concerned About Are The Extremists. On The Whole, We Need To Understand The More Moderate Muslims Before They Become More Radicalized.
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I Am Not A Fatalist. I Have Just Been Reading War And Peace And Tolstoy Is Such A Fatalist. I Think People Can Make A Difference... I Am An Optimist Who Worries A Lot.
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Thinking
The World Would Be Entirely Different If It Were Run By Women. I Think It Is True That We Are More Seeking Consensus And Don't Have Such Big Egos And Have A Variety Of Different Ways Of Trying To Get Along. But Anybody Who Says That The World Would Be Better Has Forgotten High School. It Depends On Who The Women Are.
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Thinking
I Don't Actually Believe In A Clash Of Civilizations. I Believe In A Clash Of The Civilized And The Noncivilized.
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Civilization
Clash
This Is Pure Speculation, But For A Period Of Time, A Lot Of Getting Into A Party Was Through Fundraising And Volunteer Work, And Republican Women Had More Time To Do That Than Democratic Women, Who Were Out There Getting Jobs.
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Party
Fundraising
I Think Women Are Really Good At Making Friends And Not Good At Networking. Men Are Good At Networking And Not Necessarily Making Friends. That's A Gross Generalization, But I Think It Holds In Many Ways.
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Thinking
Networking
I Think The Jobs [at The Top] Are Unbelievably Difficult, And There Is Nothing Easier Than Second-guessing People.
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Unfortunately For The Iraqi People, Instead Of Meeting These Requirements, For Six Years, Saddam Hussein Has Lied, Delayed, Obstructed And Tried To Deceive
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War
World
Real Leadership Comes From The Quiet Nudging Of An Inner Voice. It Comes From Realizing That The Time Has Come To Move Beyond Waiting To Doing.
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Graduation
Real
I Never Dreamed About One Day Becoming Secretary Of State. It's Not That I Was Modest; It's Just That I Had Never Seen A Secretary Of State In A Skirt.
Inspirational
One Day
Becoming
After The Cold War, To Rally The American People To Understand That We Had To Be A Part Of Solutions. It's One Thing To Say That We Have To Run Everything, It's Another To Say We Don't Want Anything To Do With It.
Running
War
People
We Have A Responsibility In Our Time, As Others Have Had In Theirs, Not To Be Prisoners Of History But To Shape History, A Responsibility To Fill The Role Of Path-finder, And To Build With Others A Global Network Of Purpose And Law.
Inspirational
Motivational
Responsibility
To Put It Mildly, The World Is A Mess.
World
Mess
Libraries Are Fun, Educational, And The Biggest Bargain On The Face Of The Earth.
Fun
Educational
Library
Iraq Is A Long Way From The U.s., But What Happens There Matters A Great Deal Here. For The Risks That The Leaders Of A Rogue State Will Use Nuclear, Chemical Or Biological Weapons Against Us Or Our Allies Is The Greatest Security Threat We Face.
Wmds In Iraq
Mass Destruction
Long
The Stunning Part Was That One Time Neil Mcelroy The Secretary Of Defense Who Was The Father Of One Of Our Classmates Spoke And Basically At Commencement, He Told Us All That Our Job After Graduation Was To Get Married And Have Interesting Sons...and We All Found That Hard To Believe.
Jobs
Father
Believe
No Matter How Hard We Might Wish, We Will Not Be Able To Transform China's Behavior Overnight.
Wish
Might
Matter
Most Of The Time I Spend When I Get Up In The Morning Is Trying To Figure Out What Is Going To Happen.
Morning
Trying
Get Up
The American Dream Means Being Part Of A Society That Allows You To Be Or Do Whatever You Want, And To Have A Sense That Your Individual Optimism And Hard Work Will Be Rewarded. It Exists Outside Of The U.s. As Well As Inside. People Continue To Come Here Because They Want To Improve Their Lives, They Want To Be Able To Support Themselves And They Want To Live In Freedom. A Lot Of People Who Criticize This Country Still Send Their Children Here To Study.
Dream
Country
Children
I Was Not At All Apprehensive About ... Disease ... [it] Had No Terrors For Me. The Thing I Most Feared In The World Was Hunger. That Was Something Of Which I Had Personal Knowledge.
Personal Knowledge
World
Disease
I'm A Problem-solver.
Problem
Problem Solvers
I Teach At Georgetown, And I See That The Students Have So Many Different Interests. The Main Thing Is To Match Your Passion With Your Knowledge, Because You Can't Just Be Passionate Without Knowing The Facts, And Facts Are Really Boring Without Passion.
Passion
Knowing
Facts
While Democracy In The Long Run Is The Most Stable Form Of Government, In The Short Run, It Is Among The Most Fragile.
Running
Government
Long
Whatever The Job You Are Asked To Do At Whatever Level, Do A Good Job Because Your Reputation Is Your Resume.
Jobs
Army
Levels
There Are A Lot Of Similar Aspects In All The Religions. The Question Is Which Side Of It You Hold Up.
Sides
Aspect
I Don't Think People Should Think Of Women's Issues As Auxiliary Issues - They Are Central.
Thinking
Issues
People
A Lot Of People Think International Relations Is Like A Game Of Chess. But It's Not A Game Of Chess, Where People Sit Quietly, Thinking Out Their Strategy, Taking Their Time Between Moves. It's More Like A Game Of Billiards, With A Bunch Of Balls Clustered Together.
Moving
Thinking
Games
In Diplomacy, Clear-cut Wins And Losses Are Rare.
Cutting
Loss
Winning
I Do Consider Myself A Feminist. I Know The Word Has Weird Implications For People Now, But I Do Think That Its Important To Have Women Involved, Whether Its Business Or Public Service Or...anything.
Thinking
People
Feminist
Foreign Policy Is Now A Huge Field. It Isn't Just People Who Are Studying Political Science. There Are So Many Aspects To It In Terms Of Understanding Hard Science For People Who Are Studying Climate Change, Or People Who Are Interested In Health Policy Or Food Security, Or People Who Care About Education.
People
Political
Understanding
I'm For Democracy, But Imposing Democracy Is An Oxymoron. People Have To Choose Democracy, And It Has To Come Up From Below.
People
Democracy
Come Up
Our Strategic Dialogue With China Can Both Protect American Interests And Uphold Our Principles, Provided We Are Honest About Our Differences On Human Rights And Other Issues And Provided We Use A Mix Of Targeted Incentives And Sanctions To Narrow These Differences.
Differences
Issues
Rights
The Process Of Education In The Oldest Profession In The World Is Like Any Other Educational Process, In That It Requires Time Andeffort And Patience; It Can Only Be Acquired By Taking One Step At A Time, Though The Steps Become Accelerated After The First Few.
Education
World
Firsts
If We Have To Use Force, It Is Because We Are America.
America
Use
Anarchy
I Have Always Seen The United States As A Force Of Good. And I Have Learned That There Is The Idealistic Part About What We Can Do At The U.n. And There Is A Doable Part. And I Have Learned What Is More Doable.
United States
Force
I Have Learned
I Think That A President Needs To Have A Variety Of Views Presented. But Also, There Has To Be A Team Effort, Because Otherwise, I Think It Creates A Dissonance And Difficulty.
Team
Thinking
Views
My Mind-set Is Munich. Most Of My Generation's Is Vietnam.
Mind
Generations
Vietnam
I Can't See Democracy Occurring By Force - After An Iraqi War, Because Of The Fallout From That.
War
Democracy
Force
It Takes More Than One Dove To Make Peace In The Middle East.
Middle East
Dove
Making Peace
I've Never Seen America As An Imperialist Or Colonialist Or Meddling Country.
Country
America
Meddling
We Must Help Women In Every Society To Have Their Voices Heard.
Voice
Helping
Heard
If You Look At U.s. History Through Religious History, There Is Very Much A Motif That Shows The Importance Religion Has Played In The U.s. We're A Very Religious Country And It Affects The Way We Look At Various Political Issues.
Country
Religious
Issues
I Am A Beneficiary Of The American People's Generosity, And I Hope We Can Have Comprehensive Immigration Legislation That Allows This Country To Continue To Be Enriched By Those Who Were Not Born Here.
Hope
Country
People
I Do Believe That In Order To Be A Successful Negotiator That As A Diplomat, You Have To Be Able To Put Yourself Into The Other Person's Shoes. Unless You Can Understand What Is Motivating Them, You Are Never Going To Be Able To Figure Out How To Solve A Particular Problem.
Believe
Successful
Order
Well, The Thing That I Learned As A Diplomat Is That Human Relations Ultimately Make A Huge Difference.
Differences
Diplomats
Relation
There Is Plenty Of Room In The World For Mediocre Men But There Is No Room For Mediocre Women.
Men
World
Rooms
The Interesting Part Is, That Being The United States Secretary Of State, Most Places I Went Didn't Have A Problem With Me Being A Woman, Because I Was Representing The United States.
Interesting
United States
Problem
For Me, America Is Really, Truly The Indispensable Nation.
America
Indispensable
Nations
The Framework Agreement Is One Of The Best Things The [clinton] Administration Has Done Because It Stopped A Nuclear Weapons Program In North Korea.
Agreement
Korea
Done
Nobody's Ever Said That Pins Are A Tool Of Diplomacy.
Tools
Said
Pins
Nato Has Been A Thread Throughout My Life.
Thread
Nato
Has Beens
And So I Have Studied, I Have To Tell You, Revolutions And Uprisings For A Long Time. They Are All Slightly Different, But What They All Look For Is Some Kind Of A Mechanism To Go From An Authoritarian System To An Open, Democratic System.
Uprising
Long
Revolution
I Was Taught To Strive Not Because There Were Any Guarantees Of Success But Because The Act Of Striving Is In Itself The Only Way To Keep Faith With Life.
Success
Guarantees
Way
I Did Go To Wellesley, A Women's College. And I Am Of A Kind Of Strange Generation Which Is Transitional In Terms Of Women Who Wanted To Go Out And Get Jobs.
Jobs
College
Generations
There's Madeleine, And Then There's 'madeleine Albright'. And I Sometimes Kind Of Think, Who Is This Person? Once You Become 'madeleine Albright' It Doesn't Go Away.
Thinking
Going Away
Kind
When Combined With Information And Communication Technologies, Microcredit Can Unleash New Opportunities For The World's Poorest Entrepreneurs And Thereby Revitalize The Village Economies They Serve.
Communication
Technology
Opportunity
The Reason I Made Women's Issues Central To American Foreign Policy, Was Not Because I Was A Feminist, But Because We Know That Societies Are More Stable If Women Are Politically And Economically Empowered.
Issues
Feminist
Reason
The Magic Of America Is That We're A Free And Open Society With A Mixed Population. Part Of Our Security Is Our Freedom.
Patriotic
America
Magic
I Had More Problems With The Men In Our Own Government, And Not Because They Were Male Chauvinistic Pigs But Because They Had Known Me For So Long. I Might Have Been A Carpool Mother And A Friend Of Their Wife, And So They'd Been To My House For Dinner And Things Like And They Thought 'how Did She Get To Be Secretary Of State When I Should Be Secretary Of State?' So That Was More Of A Problem.
Mother
Men
Pigs
As A Child, I Really Did See Buildings Bombed, And What Makes Me Different From An American That's The Same Age As I Am Is That I Can Understand What Happens When There Is Fighting In A Way That They Couldn't.
Children
Fighting
Age
When Somebody Is Flying Airplanes Into Buildings And Killing Innocent People In The Name Of God, It Makes You Question Why Do They Have That Interpretation And Somebody Else Has Another Interpretation, And How Many People Of Muslim Faith Would Agree With That, And What Are The Different Aspects Of Different People's Religions That Is So Divisive, Rather Than Being Unifying?
Airplane
Muslim Faith
Names
One Of The Issues I Kept Saying To My Students Is You Have To Learn To Interrupt. When You Raise Your Hand At A Meeting, By The Time They Get To You, The Point Is Not Germane. So The Bottom Line Is Active Listening. If You Are Going To Interrupt, You Look For Opportunities. You Have To Know What You're Talking About.
Opportunity
Talking
Issues
I Think The Hardest Part [is] The Priorities. There Are An Awful Lot Of Things To Do [being Secretary Of State].
Thinking
Priorities
Awful
As Far As Barriers Once I Joined The Government I Was Very Lucky Because I Had All Of My Credentials Together, I Was Doctor Albright... So When Somebody Wanted The One Woman I Made Sure That They Knew I Was Dependable And Qualified.
Doctors
Government
Together
For Me, Being Raised In A Free America Made All The Difference.
Differences
America
Made
Mahmoud Abbas Is A Puppet.
Puppets
Abba
Hussein Has Chosen To Spend His Money On Building Weapons Of Mass Destruction And Palaces For His Cronies.
Iraq
Wmd
Mass Destruction
Our Collective Experience Has Shown That When Women Have The Power To Make Their Own Choices, Good Things Happen.
Choices
Good Things
Collectives
My Deepest Regret From My Years In Public Service Is The Failure Of The United States And The International Community To Act Sooner To Halt These Crimes.
Regret
Years
Community
We Live In An Image Society. Speeches Are Not What Anybody Cares About; What They Care About Is The Picture.
Care
Speech
Trending Author
Randy Houser
Dizzy Gillespie
Norton Juster
Carl Karcher
Plutarch
David LaChapelle
Category
Information