Donna Shalala

“You go to college not only for the latest knowledge but also to meet people from different backgrounds. That's the genius of the American higher-education system compared with the Europeans'. We don't simply skim the elite.”

“We can't afford as a nation - not because of money but because of our social fabric - to have large numbers of people who are not working.”

“I try to deal with my serious reading before work.”

“We know the parental support, community support, makes a difference. It's not just the metrics of testing and putting pressure on the schools and on the teachers.”

“I think President Bush tried to step up on Social Security even though the polls showed that was unpopular. He has not been successful and backed off, but I admire people who take on big problems.”

“What you really remember at the beginning was that you have to throw a budget together. We made some terrible mistakes at the beginning in my own budget that took us at least a year to catch up on.”

“We have to mainstream everybody. No matter what their circumstances when they were growing up. Part of that is knowing that after they're finished with school, everybody in this country gets up and goes to work.”

“I've spent my whole life with people underestimating me.”

“You don't want to destroy the energy that comes out of a campaign.”

“I am interested in getting people to use the healthcare system at the right time, getting them to see the doctor early enough, before a small health problem turns serious.”

“You can't have a university without having free speech, even though at times it makes us terribly uncomfortable. If students are not going to hear controversial ideas on college campuses, they're not going to hear them in America. I believe it's part of their education.”

“We have not yet concluded that needle-exchange programs do not encourage drug use.”

“It's coaches. It's people that are involved in kids' lives at every level, and it's supporting their parents. Their parents need better jobs. So that they can help them with their homework and don't have to work two jobs.”

“But I have a driver, so I can return calls while I'm in the car.”

“I would argue that we have a generation of young people, particularly minorities, who are no longer putting up with the kinds of things their parents put up with. They're much more self-confident. It's no longer acceptable to make fun of people because of race or sex. But it has always been present in American society.”

“In every community, whether large or small, there are people who lead in their community in easy and difficult times.”

“I'll be one of the spokespeople, one of the people who sells the Administration's plans.”

“But for me, it is when a student has died. I find the death of a young person the most difficult and painful of times. To explain it to other young people, to see a bright future snuffed out, is just awful. I am haunted by those deaths.”

“The dog doesn't know the difference between Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so I have to walk the dog early those days too.”

“Higher education is one of few areas where this country competes with the rest of the world and wins. The best of American higher education outstrips any in the world. Look where the rest of the world goes for higher education, for graduate degrees. They come here.”