The ransoming of captives has been practiced by Jews for many centuries and has been regarded as a greater obligation than charity for the poor.

There isn't any way for the people of Nicaragua to find out what's going on in Nicaragua.

Like all forms of collective security, multilateral sanctions require a unanimity rarely achieved in international politics.

Honduras was the original 'banana republic,' and its poverty remains extreme.

When freedom of the press is threatened, the United States should be leading efforts to protect it.

First impressions matter. Experts say we size up new people in somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.

Elections matter, but how much they matter depends entirely on how free, open and fair they are.

While Argentina, Brazil, and Chile - what in textbooks used to be called the ABC countries - seem settled into democratic politics and free market economics, the Andean countries are in disarray.

Iran exports about 2.2 million barrels a day.

At the United Nations, a lynch mob for Israel is always just a moment away.

While all Alawites fear vengeance against their entire community should Assad fall, there are varying degrees of loyalty to the Assads.

The things that pose the greatest threats to your survival are the most real things.

A smile is a reflection of your dancing heart and your joyful soul.

What are stories for if we don't learn from them?

I was making frequent use of cocaine at that time ... I had been the first to recommend the use of cocaine, in 1885, and this recommendation had brought serious reproaches down on me.

If you can imagine a thing, conjure it up in space then you can make it... The universe is real but you can't see it. You have to imagine it. Then you can be realistic about reproducing it.

I don't hate anyone. I simply block them out using hellish visions in a blind white rage. But if I see them out I'm pleasant.

It's a cliché, but also a deep truth (as cliché's tend to be), that you can't love another person very well if you don't love yourself.

Let your character be kept up the very end, just as it began, and so be consistent.

The ultimate for me would be to do a feature that didn't require any narrative structure.

The sole purpose of business is service. The sole purpose of advertising is explaining the service which business renders.