I commanded a naval gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta. Then when I came home after two tours of duty, I decided that the same sense of service demanded something more of me.

I would rather be the candidate of the NAACP than the NRA.

The American spirit wears no political label. In service to others and yes, in sacrifice for our country, there are no Republicans; there are no Democrats; there are only Americans.

I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.

Politics has always been the art of the possible. Today it's too often the art of the probable - tinkering around the edges without any greater vision, without a sense of optimism and imagination.

I'm proud of my medals. I always was proud of them.

It's hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news.

Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country.

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

Climate change is real. The science is compelling. And the longer we wait, the harder the problem will be to solve.

You just don't invade another country on phony pretext in order to assert your interests!

In art, rebellion is consummated and perpetuated in the act of real creation, not in criticism or commentary.

Thinking is movement confined to the brain

[As a conductor] there has to be, between me and the orchestra, an unshakable bond of trust, born out of mutual respect, through which we can spin a musical narrative that we all believe in.

Ive been playing music since I was born.

We must dare, and dare again, and go on daring.

Man and boy, I have lived ever since I can remember.

I don't think you would have missed that putt, but in these circumstances, I would never give you the opportunity.

In antiquity there was only silence. In the nineteenth century, with the invention of the machine, Noise was born. Today, Noise triumphs and reigns supreme over the sensibility of men.

The natural tendency of the state is inflation.

I think some people see me as being some kind of lovable, bumbling buffoon, and I'm actually quite mouthy and sharp, and that doesn't compute.