Senator [Sam] Brownback talked about those with disabilities that are destroyed in the womb because of a genetic test that is sometimes wrong. I would put forward that we all have disabilities.

All change starts with a distant rumble at the grassroots level.

The vast amount of waste and sheer stupidity in government - from the Pentagon to the Food and Drug Administration - could fill committee agendas for years.

An easily accessible and transparent database of contract information will bring sunshine into the confusing and sometimes shadowy practice of government contracting.

One poll showed that Americans have a higher opinion of witches, the IRS and hemorrhoids than Congress

The longer a politician bears power, the more he is controlled by that power.

When I came to Washington, I was troubled to observe so many similarities between the behaviors of drug-addicted patients and my political colleagues. In Washington power is like morphine.

Careerism: the self-centered philosophy of governing to win the next election above all else.

Everybody is gonna die from something. And so the deal is how to use each day to move things forward for both you and the people you love and the country you love.

The earmark favor factory needs to be boarded up and demolished, not turned over to new management that may or may not have a better eye for earmarks with 'merit.'

I believe keeping our promises should be our highest priority and that means saving Social Security and Medicare while preserving the American dream for our children and grandchildren.

And hope is like love...a ridiculous, wonderful, powerful thing.

The journey of life is amazingly beautiful if you take it as a fearless adventure.

I am very poor - for a know nothing, understand nothing. It is not a calamitous condition until it is realized.

Sympathy is especially a Christian duty.

We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope.

I don't really play overseas stuff. I'm a bit of a dinosaur in that way. You gonna improve on a Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster? Those are perfect designs, and there is nothing to add really.

People never know what they want, though everyone says they do. If they did, nobody would ever be surprised.

President Obama had lunch with Republican leaders at the White House today and had to do without salt, pepper and butter. Not for dietary reasons. The Republicans refused to pass anything.

Without zest, what is life? Just waiting for death?

Raising children was not designed for single parents. (Which is why divorce was such a taboo prior to birth control).