There are times when the welfare system may appear as an impediment to growth. Yet the drive for growth should always bear in mind the fact that people also need security

I am not a newcomer, you know, so I want to be judged for what I did when I was prime minister last time in Italy and president of the European Commission for more than five years.

We must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political entity .. For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire we have the opportunity to unite Europe.

Democracies must have equilibrium... and the entanglement of politics and information must be minimized.

Are we all clear that we want to build something that can aspire to be a world power - not just a trading bloc, but a political entity?

I don't want to pass a punitive law, or use politics as a vendetta.

The EU must take on new responsibilities. And these new responsibilities call for intensifying the integration process.

Moreover, resolving the mother of all problems - the Israeli-Palestinian question - requires cooperation between Europe and the U.S.

Foreign policy can mean several things, not only foreign policy in the narrow sense. It can cover foreign policy, relations with the developing world, and enlargement as well.

We have to give ourselves a constitution which marks the birth of Europe as a political entity.

But Italy can only have any real influence on world affairs if it carries weight in Europe.

Christ set my chains free.

Theater has always been most important to my psyche.

Our prayers must not be efforts to bend God to our will but to yield ourselves to His.

I know all the Latin-American rhythms quite well, but I don't play them exactly like they do in their own country - I add my personal touch.

.....the research on the brain does not validate that we are singularly processing input or learning with a single sensory input.

Be pleased with your real garden, don't persue the perfection of a picture. What you see in a photo lasted only as long as the shutter snap.

The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to the Way.

A story communicates fear, hope, and anxiety, and because we can feel it, we get the moral not just as a concept, but as a teaching of our hearts. That’s the power of story.

Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you're never wrong?

My salvation has very little to do with anything that I have done... Jesus will go to any lengths to draw us to himself.