Everyone has a right to peaceful coexistence, the basic personal freedoms, the alleviation of suffering, and the opportunity to lead a productive life.

The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.

What are the things that you can't see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love...They're the guiding lights of a life.

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace and the world's leading supplier of the weapons of war.

All I want is the same thing you want. To have a nation with a government that is as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.

We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged few but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend on it.

America has no functioning democracy at this moment.

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

BlessBacks: Souvenirs for those who express their gratitude to their illuminators.

I have a very down-to-earth father. My wife is an actress and famous herself is more down-to-earth than anyone I know.

The cool wind blew in my face and all at once I felt as if I had shed dullness from myself. Before me lay a long gray line with a black mark down the center. The birds were singing. It was spring.

"Then what can you want to do now?" said the old lady,gaining courage. "I wants to make your flesh creep," replied the boy.

A man's first duty is to his own conscience and honor; the party and country come second to that, and never first.

An expression of feeling isn't worth anything unless it interferes with what the other actor in the scene wants.

As long as we wish for safety, we will have difficulty pursuing what matters.

For most of my life, I have wanted broad impact but now, at 72, I'm not so sure that's always my first priority.

The doctrine of the double motion of the earth about its axis and about the sun is false, and entirely contrary to Holy Scripture.

Don't look for someone in whom to believe. Believe in yourself. The only authentic authority is your own original nature.