"U.N. Women was created due to the acknowledgement that gender equality and women's empowerment was still, despite progress, far from what it should be. Transforming political will and decisions, such as the Member States creating U.N. Women, into concrete steps towards gender equality and women's empowerment, I think is one of the main challenges."

"I'm working for the women in the world, today; that's my essential issue."

"I took a gamble to exercise leadership without losing my feminine nature."

"I was not born in a home where there were stereotypes. So that was very useful because it gave me the sense of possibilities, of flying, if I may say, of making my hopes and dreams a reality."

"Wisdom principle 14 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 36."

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

"Wisdom principle 18 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 58."

"The greatest deception is forgetting that a single spark of imagination can ignite the world."