We cleared many of their towns and cities and rural areas of al-Qaida Iraq and other insurgents.

People often ask, why aren't you reading about what it is you're working on right now? And the truth is, you only get three pages a night before your eyelids close.

The job of the leader is to get the big ideas right.

I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction.

After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair.

Political progress will only take place if sufficient security exists.

The fact is that Iran doesn't want to see the Taliban come back any more than do most Afghan citizens.

I'm living the dream.

Every civilian's death diminishes us, collectively.

Don't forget Yemen, where there are also extremist elements, as we saw recently.

I think Putin wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can through a variety of different means. He's invaded parts of Georgia, took Crimea, southeastern Ukraine, bases in other countries.

You cannot do what's important now for you if your mind cannot accept what is happening in this present moment.

Immorality is the word we use to describe people that are not sinning the same way we are.

I suppose I'd characterize myself as having a faith-based optimism. My faith is parental and Darwinian.

There is no safer anchorage for our learning, our lives, and our public actions than that provided by Divine teachings.

if it is thus, I ask emphatically whence comes this thusness.

To know how to choose a path with heart is to learn how to follow intuitive feeling. Logic can tell you superficially where a path might lead to, but it cannot judge whether your heart will be in it.

Your early successes can be your undoing later.

Humility is the distinguishing virtue of the believer in freedom; arrogance, of the paternalist.

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

I feel an obligation to myself to entertain myself and if other people get something out of it, I'm like, right on.