I'm much more introspective than I was, say, thirty years ago.

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.

She had an ability to love that went beyond my ability to grasp the slightest concept of what love was.

The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.

I decided at the outset to invest in a fairly broad range of businesses, as I didn't want to get pigeonholed into one sector.

The West in its modern form since 1945 is a miracle, and that's in our American interests. It's its good that the West is strong and at peace, and we should want more of that, not less.

If I'm on skates, I feel at home no matter what I'm doing. If they wanted me to sing and dance I think I could do it just becauseI was on skates. When I'm not on skates, though, I feel very strange.

Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole.'-William Boot

As someone with a novelistic background, I just didn't have much interest in creating stories by committee. I don't think you necessarily get the best story through that approach.

If you have the right to call me a hot dog why do I not have the right to call you a stale 3-day old hamburger?

No woman's getting hired because of her potential. I hope that we can invest more in female potential.

Golden lads and girls all must as chimney sweepers come to dust.