Oprah: What do you do on Saturdays?

Condoleezza: I work but I go in an hour later, at 7:30 A.M.

Oprah: Whoa!

Condoleezza: I know—I really slough off on Saturdays. Sunday is the day I try to preserve, though I sometimes appear on the morning news shows. I like to spend Sundays with friends and at church.

Oprah: Your schedule doesn't leave much time for a relationship.

Condoleezza: Not much. But if a relationship comes along, I'm sure I'll make time.

Oprah: When you left Washington the first time, you said you wouldn't come back because you wanted a life. What made you decide to return?

Condoleezza: I adore this president. I helped him through the campaign and I wanted to be part of getting this administration up and running. I knew there would be sacrifices in terms of time and privacy and what I could call normalcy.

Oprah: I've watched you on many of the news programs. Do you always have such a cool and calm presence?

Condoleezza: That comes from all that time I've spent teaching 18- and 19-year-olds.

Oprah: Are you ever unnerved?

Condoleezza: I try very hard to go through in my head what might be asked of me during an interview. I'm also not opposed to saying "I don't know." When I was a professor, you'd be surprised at how much time I spent fielding questions from students. Academics spend a lot of time talking. We don't make money—all we do is make our views known.

Oprah: And you've become very good at making your views known crisply. It's such a joy to talk to you. Thank you very much for your time.

Condoleezza: Thank you.