A collection of quotes by and about Clinton. A kind of summation of what most people don’t know about her career. Her first job out of law school was at the Children’s Defense Fund, and her career from there on has been focused on and motivated by helping women and children.

The subjugation of women is a threat to the common security of our world and to the national security of our country.

— The Hillary Doctrine

I honestly think Hillary Clinton wakes up every day thinking about how to improve the lives of women and girls. And I don’t know another world leader who is doing that.

— Theresa Loar, 2011, The Hillary Doctrine

If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all. As long as discrimination and inequities remain so commonplace everywhere in the world, as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled, subjected to violence in and outside their homes—the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized.

— Hillary Clinton, 1995, Beijing

Investing in the potential of women and girls is the smartest investment we can make. It is connected to every problem on anyone’s mind around the world today … There are people who say, well, women’s issues is an important issue, but it doesn’t rank up there with the Middle East or Iran’s nuclear threat or Afghanistan or Pakistan. I could not disagree more. I think women are key to our being able to resolve all of those difficult conflicts, as well as provide for a better future.

— Hillary Clinton, 2010

One thing I would urge, if you do get a chance, is to visit a shelter, a site where trafficking victims have been rescued and are being rehabilitated. I recently was in Cambodia, and it is just so overwhelmingly heartbreaking and inspiring to see these young girls. One girl lost her eyes—to punish her, the owner of the brothel had stabbed her in the eye with a nail. She was the most optimistic, cheerful young woman, just a tremendous spirit. What she wants to do when she grows up is help other victims of trafficking, so there is just an enormous amount of work to be done.

— Hillary Clinton, 2011, State Department meeting

Excerpts from The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy, by Valerie M. Hudson and Patricia Leidl.

In a speech at the 2012 Women in the World Summit, the actress Meryl Streep recalled her own experiences: “And all weekend long, women from all over the world said the same thing: I’m alive because she [Hillary Clinton] came to my village, put her arm around me, and had a photograph taken together. I’m alive because she went on our local TV and talked about my work, and now they’re afraid to kill me. I’m alive because she came to my country and she talked to our leaders, because I heard her speak, because I read about her.” p. 82

Somaly Man, who established one of the most effective shelters for trafficked women in Cambodia despite backstory issues, told of how her government only began respecting the work of her shelter after a visit by Clinton: “She protects our lives … Our people never paid attention. Hillary has opened their eyes, so now they have no choice; by her work she has saved many lives in Cambodia — our government is changing. p.83

We used extensively [Hillary Clinton’s] speeches and articles to … influence our own government. p. 80 (Lena Ag, of the Swedish feminist advocacy group Kvinna till Kvinna)