When you have both parties who will not find ways to compromise, who won't meet in the middle, you have paralysis. It's the perversion of idealism.

The fact that slavery is written into the Constitution is about as entrenched a form of classism as you could possibly imagine.

We all experience power struggles in our lives - at the workplace, with our friends, in our love lives. In a way, we're all politicians.

If you work hard and play by the rules, you'll have a better life than your parents did, and your children will have a better life than you did.

In the best possible scenario, whenever you get notes from people, they're good notes, and they see things that you wouldn't have seen otherwise, and they make you a better writer.

My jobs on campaigns were pretty low on the totem pole - I was an advance man.

When you're creating new roles out of scratch in my opinion working with the actors is a great asset. You can learn a lot from that.

I don't think that Washington is a fundamentally bad or corrupt place.

You just have to re-wire your brain when you’re shifting from the stage to the screen, or the silver screen or the HD flat screen.

The checks and balances is a way to prevent government from either devolving into an autocratic tyranny or an autocratic mob mentality.

Sometimes you can miss out on something amazing by being in a hurry.

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime And departing leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.

Relationships survive on trust, and if that is broken at any point, it's pretty much the end of the relationship. Besides, inability to communicate leads to problems.

Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.

I believe God wrote the Word in your essence. That's the genius of my Father. You are born knowing right from wrong. You don't need a book to tell you that!

I can play a man who's despicable. But I'll still look inside him to find a point of connection. If I can find that kernel, audiences will relate to me.

I've never been called a man of few words.

If I can find out God, then I shall find Him,If none can find Him, then I shall sleep soundly,Knowing how well on earth your love sufficed me, A lamp in darkness.

So many people of my generation who served in the government were prisoners of the Cold War culture, still are.

And besides, because of all she has accomplished, Barbara Jordan has always been a hero of mine