I would want to be fully informed before advising the president.

Just remember that a pat on the back is only 18 inches from a kick in the behind.

I feel it's important that in advising the president, if confirmed, that I deal with facts, that I deal with sufficient information. Which means having access to all information.

People who speak up for freedom in regimes that are oppressive are often a threat.

We've seen what violent regime change looks like in Libya and the kind of chaos that can be unleashed. And, indeed, the kind of misery that it enacts on its own people.

We are making tremendous progress that ISIS really does present to the homeland and to other homelands of allies around the world.

I think the relationship between the USA and Russia is too important. And it's too important to not find a way to move forward.

I think the Russians have played now for some time the role of providing cover for Bashar al-Assad's behavior. The alternative explanation that the Russians put forth is simply not plausible.

I've made my own comments as to our vales as well in a speech I gave to the State Department.

I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values or the commitment of the American government or the government's agencies to advancing those values and defending those values.

The increase in the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are having an effect. Our ability to predict that effect is very limited.

Just smile at what has gone by

Poetry is a search for ways of communication; it must be conducted with openness, flexibility, and a constant readiness to listen.

The same common sense which makes an author write good things, makes him dread they are not good enough to deserve reading.

When you want to have entertainment, it must be a waste of time. I don't like that. I don't like improvisation being pointless.

I think after a certain amount, I’m going to give almost everything I have to charity. What else can you do with it? You can't spend it, even if you try. I've been trying.

I don't have a love life. I have a like life.

Get it wrong, and we call it a cult. Get it right, in the right time and the right place, and maybe, for the next few millennia, people won't have to go to work on your birthday.

There is no evil without its compensation.

We're all right, you know,' he says quietly. 'You and me. Okay?' My chest aches, and I nod. 'Nothing else is all right.' His whisper tickles my cheek. 'But we are.

Politics cannot be a science, because in politics theory and practice cannot be separated, and the sciences depend upon their separation.