Demeanor-wise, Reagan was a conservative, but a pragmatic conservative, and he found silver linings in things. He liked to be a mediator. He didn't like to have enemies around him.

Politicians wanted to mine the Grand Canyon for zinc and copper, and Theodore Roosevelt said no.

I learned more about history and literature in the used bookstores in DC than in college libraries.

Hurricane Katrina is without question the worst natural disaster in American history.

John Kerry wants to be the hero in his own drama. He likes King Arthur and the Round Table. He likes the young swashbuckling Churchill, and he loved the early antics of Theodore Roosevelt.

I think Ronald Reagan is what happened....The age of Reagan brought conservatism into the mainstream....It also brought us the beginning of the new media-talk radio, the internet, cable television.

I have a lot of books I want to write.

Over the past four decades no reporter has critiqued the American South with such evocative sensitivity and bedrock honesty as Curtis Wilkie.

Animals interest me more than anything else.

If you're a Kennedy and you go to Italy or you go to Argentina, you're treated as royalty. And in the United States, we're endlessly fascinated by the family.

I feel like I'm always learning from people.

I am not a man of words, not yesterday, not the day before, not from the first time You spoke to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.

Be Happy not Satisfied

Writers are a product of where we come from but by looking at alternatives to the culture in which we live, we can find ways to change and hopefully improve it.

I admire pop songs that are perfect at three minutes.

I've got a great life. I'm in love, I have a happy, wonderful, beautiful time with my marriage, and I have a beautiful home. I want to spend time here working and creating.

My childhood dream was to win the Olympics, and I've done that. Everything else is icing on the cake.

I like fast plots with things that explode.

Besides," Shane said "I want to see Monica's face when she catches sight of the two of you. Kodak moment.

Don't you believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?

Wherever you go, go with inspiration and aspiration. Whatever you do, do with love and concern. Whomever you see, see with purity's beauty And responsibility's glory.