As a former career intelligence professional, I have a profound appreciation for the value of intelligence. Intelligence disrupts terrorist plots and thwarts attacks. Intelligence saves lives.

Unfortunately, in war, there are casualties, including among the civilian population.

We need to make sure that leaks of classified information, of national security secrets, needs to be rigorously pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I go to bed at night worrying that I didn't do enough that day to make sure I protect the American people.

The preservation of our national security and the laws that define us as the United States of America demand that we understand the intersection of the two - indeed, how they reinforce one another.

Jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community.

Is real, it is serious, it is growing, and it constitutes one of the greatest threats to our national security and, indeed, to global security.

How you define a problem shapes how you address it.

When we uphold the rule of law, our counterterrorism tools are more likely to withstand the scrutiny of our courts, our allies, and the American people.

I will not, nor will I ever, publicly divulge sensitive intelligence sources and methods. For when that happens, our national security is endangered and lives can be lost.

We are in this business, whether it be intelligence or the government, to protect freedom, democracy and liberty, not to violate that.

Reaching beyond ourselves, exceeding our mind is not a simple thing. It is, in fact, impossible–one half of the Ego is trying to exceed the other.

The greatest virtue is endurance.

We are born to Exist, not to know, to be, not to assert ourselves.

Mozart's music gives us permission to live.

I don't think there was really a time when I have not been politically aware.

What I know bores me.

There's fatigue but also a deliberate desire to want to reach absolute perfection at every concert.

Inevitably, almost everything we say is either quotation or paraphrase.

The two that are one, the one that is all!

There are sneakers that cost more than an iPod.