I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned

When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.

Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.

Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.

It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.

It was wise enough to know itself, and brave enough to be itself, and wild enough to change itself while somehow staying altogether true.

If I seem to wander, if I seem to stray, remember that true stories seldom take the straightest way

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.

Do not mistake me for my mask. You see light dappling on the water and forget the deep, cold dark beneath.

You do not know the first note of the music that moves me.

Don't say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream.

But that was just it - hate was exactly the right word. Hate is a force of attraction. Hate is just love with its back turned.

I do not share the half-in, half-out attitude to the EU of some in Britain. Britain's place is in Europe.

When silence reaches an ultimate point, the light penetrates everywhere.

My secret is I cannot go to bed, I cannot sleep, if my bed is not made before I go to bed. I can leave it unmade in the morning, but I have to remake it before I get into it to sleep.

There is something about that moment, when literature becomes accessible, and a door of the world opens.

I am here no longer just a vision birthed into this body I accept my praise, my blame, my joy, my sorrow I realize we are, in truth, the truth we seek God, perfect this very moment.

Israel cannot afford to stand against the entire world and be denounced as the aggressor.

In foreign policy it's not necessary to have similar views to have a conversation.

Man-made global warming was a potential serious threat, and NASA wanted Congress to fund new satellites to study the problem. It was a team effort to get that accomplished.