I don't think that Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon.

The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.

What are the things that you can't see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love...They're the guiding lights of a life.

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense human rights invented America.

We cannot be both the world's leading champion of peace and the world's leading supplier of the weapons of war.

All I want is the same thing you want. To have a nation with a government that is as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.

We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged few but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend on it.

America has no functioning democracy at this moment.

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

I believe in a God who not only intervenes in human affairs--again and again--but one who also makes banquets out of stale bread.

Venice, it's temples and palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment piled to heaven.

The sweetest of all sounds is praise.

What is the history of mighty kingdoms and nations, but a detail of the ravages and cruelties of the powerful over the weak?

The truth can wait, for it lives a long life.

One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told.

I moved to New York in the 1970s and started writing when I was at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.

People know that I always do my hair and makeup, but I also love doing crafts. I love getting a blank canvas and painting something.

Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition.

Iambics march from short to long;-- With a leap and a bound the swift Anapaests throng