Bush made a point of emphasizing to me that unlike his father's administration, his was one of significant "walk-in access" to the Oval Office.

I don't think of Bush as a particularly angry person - if anything, he has a facility for not harboring grudges, for letting things roll off of his back after momentarily bristling.

It was my intent all along to write a nonjudgmental narrative of Bush's presidency. Along the way, a number of liberal friends of mine expressed disgust that I would spend time on such an endeavor.

As a journalist, you sort of grind away, taking rejections as they come, building on whatever advances you've achieved.

Bush always has viewed himself as an "activist," which flies in the face of some conservative notions, such as the federal government's role in education.

Bush told me, he doesn't watch TV ... though it's untrue that he doesn't read the newspapers.

Gray, the colour of forgetting.

That's the beauty of education, kids taking lessons out of the classroom and back into their own world where they can positively affect their family, their friends, and their greater community.

If he invited you out, he's got to pay.

No one entertains the thought that maybe God does not believe in you.

That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he has published, if he does not command success, has at least deserved it.

If there is anything interesting about my story it's the fact that it's not unique at all. I feel that I have been through what almost everyone I know has - a slow and gradual maturation process.

The only parts left of my original body are my elbows.

When the tempter me pursueth With the sins of all my youth, And half damns me with untruth, Sweet Spirit, comfort me!

Discouragement is an attitude.