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That's advice the former first lady and secretary of State offered this week to women aspiring to high-profile positions, borrowing from Eleanor Roosevelt. It's a hide that didn't come naturally to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton said Thursday that women who want to get ahead in politics or other high-profile jobs should grow skin like a rhinoceros.

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This is a bit of wisdom the former secretary of State may have learned the hard way. Well get to that in a moment.

But first, the background: Mrs. Clinton was speaking at an event for the No Ceilings project, a joint initiative of the Clinton Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to empower women in the 21stcentury.

No Ceilings is launching a review of global data to see how far women have progressed in education, income, political participation, and other measures since the mid-1990s, Clinton said. It picked that parameter because Clinton had addressed a big UN World Conference on Women in 1995, when she was first lady.

Flanked by her daughter, Chelsea, and Melinda Gates onstage at New York University, Clinton gave no hint of her future political plans. But she did give interesting counsel to other women who might want to follow in her footsteps.

One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever heard from anyone is from Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1920s, who said that women in politics or in public roles should grow skin like a rhinoceros, Clinton said. I think there is some truth to that.

Thats true, of course. But its not just true for women. Men in politics have to be able to withstand the slings and arrows of rhetorical abuse, as well. Remember how Texas Gov. Ann Richards mocked George H.W. Bush in 1988? He was born with a silver foot in his mouth, she told the Democratic National Convention that year, to riotous applause.

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Hillary Clinton tells women to 'grow skin like a rhinoceros.' Good advice? (+video)