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.

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 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.

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

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

Americans are not saving enough for retirement.

Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.

My trouble is I talk first and think later.

I'm not interested in going after a part. I think if someone wants me for a part and approaches me then I'll take it on a case-by-case basis and see what that part is.

Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.

How we start our day is often how we live our lives

There can never be deep peace between two spirits, never mutual respect, until, in their dialogue, each stands for the whole world.

I'm not childless, darling. I am childfree.

I don't see that many plays, and for me, musicals are rarely pleasing.

It is one thing to see the forward path and another to be able to take it. But it is better to have an ambitious plan than none at all.

The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.