The first step toward liberation of any group is to use the power in hand... And the power in hand is the vote.

In trying to make something new, half the undertaking lies in discovering whether it can be done. Once it has been established that it can, duplication is inevitable.

Freedom is not won on the battlefields. The chance for freedom is won there. The final battle is won or lost in our hearts and minds.

Democracy cannot long survive when the people permit their lives to be dominated - economically or politically - by a powerful few.

Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by how one thinks and acts.

To be free you must afford freedom to your neighbor, regardless of race, color, creed, or national origin, and that sometimes, for some, is very difficult.

Politicians aren't any more wicked than other citizens but the situation in which they are placed warps their judgment.

I never felt I left the stage.

There is no danger is letting people have their say. ... There is a danger when you try to stop them from saying it.

The discrepancy between American ideals and American practice - between our aims and what we actually do - creates a moral dry rot which eats away at the foundations of our democratic faith.

Such pip-squeaks as Nixon and McCarthy are trying to get us so frightened of Communism that we'll be afraid to turn out the lights at night.

The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.

We Jews created the concept of good luck. Luck in Hebrew is mazel, which is not actually a word. It is an acronym for three words: 1. makom = place2. zman = time3. lamud = work

I believe we need to attract a new generation of the best and brightest to public service and I believe that government can be a source of inspiration, not degradation.

I'm always trying to look for how I can find human stories that aren't just dramas.

Our life evokes our character and you find out more about yourself as you go on.

So I hope that there are people out there laughing. Laugh loud, please. Laugh until your lungs give out because I will have the last laugh.

The mere holding of slaves, therefore, is a condition having per se nothing of moral character in it, any more than the being a parent, or employer, or ruler

I wrote three books, I had three greenhouses. It seemed to me to be very satisfactory.

In the insurance business, there is no statute of limitation on stupidity.

When you learn something from people, or from a culture, you accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve it and build on it.