If we are to be as a shining city upon a hill, it will be because of our ceaseless pursuit of the constitutional ideal of human dignity.

Death is not only an unusually severe punishment, unusual in its pain, in its finality and in its enormity, but is serves no penal purpose more effectively than a less severe punishment.

We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so, we dilute the freedom this cherished emblem represents.

If the right to privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion.

There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.

We must meet the challenge rather than wish it were not before us.

Religious conflict can be the bloodiest and cruelest conflicts that turn people into fanatics.

Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent.

We cannot let colorblindness become myopia which masks the reality that many "created equal" have been treated within our lifetimes as inferior both by the law and by their fellow citizens.

After each perceived security crisis ended, the United States has remorsefully realized that the abrogation of civil liberties was unnecessary.

The framers knew that liberty is a fragile thing, and so should we.

All progress begins with a decision. Effective leadership requires decisive action. Embrace the process of deciding, yet recognize when you have reached a choice point.

Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.

For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.

To learn is to be young, however old.

It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with.

I think girls who insult people are very attractive.

When I came back to California in the early '60s I was hanging out with Jimmy Bowen, Phil Spector, and I wanted to be a record producer and work with other artists.

a perfect piece of architecture kindles that aimless reverie, which bears the soul we know not whither.

For better or worse, I take my acting seriously. I may not have been in the best movies ever made, but I take it deathly serious, and I love being an actor.