Perhaps the most troubling area in the world goes from the Balkans through the Middle East and in Central Asia.

We believe we are creating the beginning of a new world order coming out of the collapse of the US-Soviet antagonisms.

An idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.

First of all, I think the Saudis are deeply concerned about the collapse of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians and the resumption of conflict.

Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.

America has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.

Saddam's ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.

But there is scant evidence to tie Saddam to terrorist organizations, and even less to the Sept. 11 attacks.

It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace.

After all, we didn't bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.

My point was that removing Saddam should not have been our highest priority. Fighting terrorism should have been our number one concern, followed by the Palestinian peace process.

The most beautiful rose still has to contend with ugly thorns.

When it's about your life, it's time to be selfish.

... because a fight's worth nothing if you know from the start that you're going to win it. It's the ones in between that test you. They're the ones that bring questions with them.

I think there's something quite interesting about the almost tragic quality of a lot of overwrought prose, because it has a much more self-conscious awareness of its own failure to touch the real.

Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.

You cannot fold a flood and put it in a drawer, because the winds would find it out and tell your cedar floor.

I have the power of choice in every moment. Where will I place my attention? What do I hold sacred? Whom can I love right now?

Women who have power are always feared.

A man is as old as his arteries.

To be poor and independent is very nearly an impossibility.