To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation.

My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.

You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad.

Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse.

In America any boy may become President, and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes.

The journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step. So we must never neglect any work of peace within our reach, however small.

I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.

All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. All change is the result of a change in the contemporary state of mind.

A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.

As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end.

Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.

In God’s vocabulary, ‘lost’ is an unnecessary adjective that is easily erased by the adjective ‘found’ if we would simply be brave enough to hand Him the eraser.

If I'd had some set idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years ago?

WHAT is your name? WHAT is your quest? and WHAT is your favorite color?

I'm very proud of my area around the plate. I don't want anyone messing with my dirt.

Press coverage has been difficult for him. I did not set out to ensnare him with a child.

Responding to climate change will become the obsession of the next decade in much the same way terrorism was this decade's obsession.

I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it. I would hope to act with compassion without thinking of personal gain.

Love is a special way of being alive.

When there are no lyrics there are many parts of the imagination that can fill in the meanings of the music, so I strongly believe that it can be more powerful at times.

Don’t waste your time trying to get into my head. There's nothing there.