From day one, I have always been open about my sexual orientation.

The U.S. routinely ranks lower than other countries in health outcomes such as infant mortality.

In my grandfather's lab, scientists did independent research, and peers reviewed and commented on its merits. Politics, he taught me, had no place in the scientific process.

I find it greatly disturbing that the Bush administration has used political and religious ideologies to influence national policy on science and medicine.

I had a serious childhood illness - sort of like spinal meningitis - that led to a three-month hospitalization. Afterward, I couldn't be insured because of a pre-existing condition.

I think that that integrity is something that is important to voters.

It is hard to look the other way when a dictator is being so cruel and violent with his own people.

Politicians in Washington and Madison aren't hearing, aren't listening to their constituents and prioritizing getting people back to work and growing our economy.

Our constitutional liberties shall not be sacrificed in our search for greater security, for that is what our enemies and all enemies of freedom and democracy hope to achieve.

When I first ran for Congress in 1998, people counted me out.

Americans are not saving enough for retirement.

Of all nations, those submit to civilization with the most difficulty which habitually live by the chase.

I don't do flash fiction.

Abundance = choice = freedom. Scarcity = dependence = control.

The best books come from someplace deep inside.... Become emotionally involved. If you don't care about your characters, your readers won't either.

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this career of mine.

Every thought is new when an author expresses it in a manner peculiar to himself.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. The one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul.

If you wish to enrich days, plant flowers; If you wish to enrich years, plant trees; If you wish to enrich Eternity, plant ideals in the lives of others.

How can an unsteady mind make itself steady? Of course it cannot. It is the nature of the mind to roam about. All you can do is to shift the focus of consciousness beyond the mind.

Hot air expands, and seriously pompous attitude is the inflation of choice by those lacking substance.