Secretary Quotes
More Secretary Quotes
Both Bush as well as Tony Blair are undermining an idea [the United Nations]. Is this because the Secretary general of the United Nations [Ghanaian Kofi Annan] is now a black man? They never did that when Secretary generals were white.
nelson mandela
Jimmy Carter Calls Condi Rice a Liar ... Jimmy Carter continues to plumb new depths of disgraceful behavior: Carter says Secretary Rice ‘not telling truth’.
charles foster johnson— April 23, 2008 [30]
Every time the Secretary of Defense tries to get a hand on his many intelligence programs, we hear warnings about the dire consequences to liberty. When you look behind those warnings, what you really see is the CIA trying to preserve its perks.
— Mark Riebling, "Rumsfeld's New Spy Unit," Broadcast on National Public Radio (October 31, 2002). Full transcript online
A few weeks ago I had a revelation and told my Secretary that I could give him a synthesis of forty-six years of living with economic policy. It is: 'Economic policy is random with respect to the performance of the American economy, but, thank God, there isn't much of it.'
Herbert Stein— 1979 Washington Bedtime Stories.
I am an inveterate homemaker, it is at once my pleasure, my recreation, and my handicap. Were I a man, my books would have been written in leisure, protected by a wife and a Secretary and various household officials. As it is, being a woman, my work has had to be done between bouts of homemaking.
pearl buck— p. 239 (My Several Worlds (1954))
People who get higher pay are more willing to relocate--especially to undesirable locations at the company's behest... A corporate Secretary may change companies in the same town; a corporate executive is more likely to change towns with the same company. A talented corporate Secretary sees an invitation to relocate as an invitation; a future corporate executive sees an invitation to relocate as an opportunity--and an obligation.
warren farrell— p. 93-94. (Part IV: Where do we go from here)
Particularly against books the Home Secretary is. If we can't stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop it being brought in from outside.
— 1930 Vile Bodies, ch.2.
Alexander Hamilton has been on the $10 since 1928, he's been well honored by the country, he was a great Secretary of the Treasury. But of all the people on the currency, the only one who isn't a president." [Note: Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait appears on the $100 bill, also was not a president.]
grover norquist— interview with CNN's Judy Woodruff on the possibility of putting Ronald Reagan on the $10 bill, June 8, 2004
I really am tired of all the Clinton Democrats running around getting all-sanctimonious over Iraq. It was them who killed 1.5 to 2.2 million Iraqis through sanctions. Sanctions that Madeline Albright, their illustrious Secretary of State, when confronted with the fact of 500,000 dead Iraqi children, said it was a price she was willing to pay.
scott ritter— Interview with the Memphis Flyer
General Secretary Gorbachev’s policy of restructuring brings with it, for the first time since the end of World War II, a justifiable hope of overcoming the East-West conflict.
Helmut Kohl— Helmut Kohl, Awake! magazine, September 22, 1990; in its article; Berlin—A Mirror of Our World?
The first thoughts of an Englishman on appointment to the office of Foreign Secretary must be that he speaks in the name, not of Great Britain only, but of the British Dominions beyond the seas, and that it is his imperative duty to preserve in word and act the diplomatic unity of the British Empire. Our interests are one. Our intercourse must be intimate and constant, and we must speak with one voice in the Councils of the world.
austen chamberlain— 1924. Quoted in H. Blair Neatby, William Lyon Mackenzie King (Methuen, 1963), p. 40.
I have worked for many years with Sir John and I know only too well how wise he can be. I also know what a kind heart beats under his severe exterior?though he would never admit it. He has often, in my view, been unfairly criticized but, as Financial Secretary, he has done far more for Hong Kong than most people, and much more than most people realize.
john james cowperthwaite— Michael Arthur Clinton, Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, Official Report of Proceedings of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, June 23, 1971, page 740.
On speaking to Mr. Fox (who had just received the seals as Secretary of State) on the important event of the day, he said certainly things look very well, but he, meaning the K[ing], will dye soon, and that will be best of all.
charles james fox— Fox to Lord Carmarthen (27 March 1783), quoted in Oscar Browning (ed.), The Political Memoranda of Francis Fifth Duke of Leeds (Camden Society, 1884), pp. 65-66, n.
Practically all we know is that thousands of native Haitians have been killed by American Marines, and that many of our own gallant men have sacrificed their lives at the behest of an Executive department in order to establish laws drafted by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. ... I will not empower an Assistant Secretary of the Navy to draft a constitution for helpless neighbors in the West Indies and jam it down their throats at the point of bayonets borne by US Marines.
warren g. harding— Speech during Warren Harding's 1920 presidental campaign, critizing Woodrow Wilson's Haitian policies; quoted in Democracy at the Point of Bayonets (1999) by Mark Penceny, p. 2. (The Assistant Secretary of the Navy he refers to is Franklin Roosevelt, who was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1920.)
I have thought long and deeply about the post of Foreign Secretary and have decided to offer it to Peter Carrington who – as I am sure you will agree – will do the job superbly.
margaret thatcher— Edward Heath, "The Course of My Life" (Hodder and Stoughton, 1998), p. 574.Letter written on 4 May 1979 to Edward Heath, who had been hoping for the job of Foreign Secretary in Thatcher's government.
That is the delicate balance the Secretary of the Interior must have: to be steward for the natural resources for this generation as well as future generations. I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns; whatever it is we have to manage with a skill to leave the resources needed for future generations.
james g. watt— Testimony before the House Interior Committee (5 February 1981)
General Secretary Gorbachev’s policy of restructuring brings with it, for the first time since the end of World War:;II, a justifiable hope of overcoming the East-West conflict.
Helmut Kohl— Helmut Kohl, Awake! magazine, September 22, 1990; in its article; Berlin—A Mirror of Our World?
" Pan again!" said Dr. Bull irritably. "You seem to think Pan is everything." "So he is," said the Professor, "in Greek. He means everything." "Don't forget," said the Secretary, looking down, "that he also means Panic."
— G. K. Chesterton in The Man Who Was Thursday (1908), Ch. XIV : The Six Philosophers
"You will not find him dead easily. If he has been tipped out of the car, we shall find him rolling as a colt rolls in a field, kicking his legs for fun ." "Clashing his hoofs," said the Professor. "The colts do, and so did Pan ." "Pan again!" said Dr. Bull irritably. "You seem to think Pan is everything ." "So he is," said the Professor, "in Greek. He means everything." "Don't forget," said the Secretary, looking down, "that he also means Panic ."
— G. K. Chesterton, in The Man Who Was Thursday (1908), Ch. XIV : The Six Philosophers
Joseph Browne, Mara's Secretary at the time of the coup:
ratu sir kamisese mara— "What we are going to witness is the height of hypocrisy. The involvement of the military and other elements in any ceremony is farcical because these institutions ridiculed him and betrayed him when he was the president at the height of the 2000 coup." (May 2004, on military participation in Mara's funeral)
— "Fiji doesn't deserve him ... they crucified him ... he was attacked personally by the masses ... rumours were spread about him ... the decisions of the Great Council of Chiefs embarrassed him and the actions taken by the military and the police ... he felt betrayed ... justice will prevail." (This quote, and the one below, were reported by the Fiji Village news service, 21 April 2004).
— "He stood for peace, progress and prosperity ... the Turaga stood on the side of the marginalized ... the poor ... the supressed and he treated all as equals. The interest of the nation was first and foremost. The legacy that he left behind that I use as a beacon is the sum total of the hold is always greater than any of its parts."
The great Secretary of Nature and all learning, Sir Francis Bacon.
Izaak Walton— Life of Herbert (1670).
People ask me, "What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?" Well, that's not my job as a US senator to bring industry to the state. That’s the lieutenant governor’s job, that’s your state senators’ and assemblymen’s job. That’s your Secretary of state’s job, to make a climate in the state that says, ‘Y’all come.’
sharron angle— YouTube video campaign appearance, 2010-05-14
The world increasingly allows girls to be whoever they wish to be-- homemaker, mother, Secretary, executive.
warren farrell— p. 167. (Part II: The Glass Cellars of the disposable sex)
Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the Secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.
alexander haig— March 30, 1981, after Ronald Reagan was hospitalized. [1]
I think any man in business would be foolish to fool around with his Secretary. If it's somebody else's Secretary, fine!
— Attributed to Barry Goldwater in: Conference Board (1978) Across the board. Vol. 15. p. 74.
A leading Welsh minister and Welsh ministers are, I think, among the best preachers was invited to preach an anniversary sermon before one of the great societies in London. Naturally anxious to disregard no propriety, he consulted the proper authority, the Secretary. "Should I read my sermon?" "Oh, it is no matter, only bring some of your Welsh fire with you." " But you cannot, my dear sir, carry fire on paper." "No, that is true; but you may use the paper to kindle the fire."
— John Hall, p. 483. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
Bruce Hawker was a useful press Secretary for a state premier a few years ago before becoming a lobbyist. Right now I am sure he has his hands full helping bail out a sinking Labor government with a recycled Kevin Rudd.
— Lynton Crosby, quoted in Evening Standard, Wednesday 7 August 2013, p.2
It wants to stop being seen as the supporter of Muslim tyrants and instead become the champion of Muslim freedoms. President Bush and his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, are transforming American policy in this realm, and while some of the implementation has been spotty, the general thrust is clear and laudable.
— Fareed Zakaria/Newsweek, June 6, 2005 [21]
