Those who warned that Gorbachev was being put under too much pressure were wrong.

This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible.

The central premise behind Oslo was that if Arafat were given enough legitimacy, territory, weapons and money, he would use his power to fight terror and make peace with Israel.

It is not surprising, then, that in the decade since Oslo began, Arafat used all the resources placed at his disposal to fan the flames of hatred against Israel.

In dictatorships you need courage to fight evil; in the free world you need courage to see evil.

Japan is not a Western democracy. The Japanese have kept their traditions, culture and heritage, but they have joined the community of free nations.

It is important to remember that some of the most serious thinkers once thought that democracy was not compatible with the cultures of Germany, Italy, Japan, Latin America and Russia.

Free societies are societies in which the right of dissent is protected.

As soon as people become a little less fearful, they will also begin demanding more freedom.

Non-democratic regimes always need to mobilize their people against external enemies in order to maintain internal stability.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

The scepticism which men affect towards their higher inspirations is often not an honest doubt, but a guilty negligence, and is a sign of narrow mind and defective wisdom.

I had an acting teacher tell me once that if you're playing a car salesman, you don't want to be an OK car salesman, you want to play the best car salesman.

I'm passing on a tradition of which I am part. There's a long line of poets who went before me, and I'm another one, and I'm hoping to pass that on to other younger, or newer, poets than myself.

When I was skating you had to participate in every thing.

England is the paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of horses.

It is impossible to pray for someone without loving him, and impossible to go on praying for him without discovering that our love for him grows and matures.

The loss of my parents was definitely the hardest thing I've had to endure. I just felt really dead inside for a long time.

The Music is the only corporeal introduction to the superior world of Knowledge.

Yes, I'm proud to be a liberal.

No hero is above fear.