"Women have a lot of power in private life. There are many men who would say, 'Hey, women already rule my life.' But with women, more is more. The more there are, the more the world gets used to seeing them. We change the culture. We begin to expand options and lead and manage."

"That someone like Obama could be elected president of the United States - with its unrivaled power and prestige - has begun to restore the country's and the world's faith in America as the land of opportunity."

"When I first started working in politics, as a junior aide on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, it never occurred to me that I would one day work in the White House. There were plenty of women among the volunteers who stuffed envelopes and walked precincts. But there were fewer and fewer on each successive level of influence and access."

"You can't leave out half the world's experience and expect to address all the problems. Women communicate differently and process information differently, which leads them to resolve conflicts differently."

"Without forgiveness, there's no future."

"Every day it becomes clearer that this was the wrong war at the wrong time."

"Everything that goes up must come down. But there comes a time when not everything that's down can come up."

"Eventually, it is found out but it takes time especially in the conditions when communication is difficult, when the enemy is making it extremely awkward for information to come out, to go."