I have a close association with Gen. Petraeus... What you get in Dave Petraeus is a very unique officer, a combination of intelligence, extraordinary depth of knowledge and understanding.

Normally, what happens when we have a national leader who wants to do something in terms of military intervention, he tells the Pentagon, put together some options to accomplish goal.

Most people who aspire to be president don't have a foreign policy andnational security background. The exception was certainly Hillary Clinton.

Frankly, our adversaries are emboldened by the lack of American leadership in the world, and our friends and our allies, they have lost trust in us.

The reason death sticks so closely to life isn’t biological necessity – it’s envy.

Big, sweeping life changes really boil down to small, everyday decisions.

Let us begin to understand the argument. There is a solution to everything: Science.

I'm kind of a mash-up of taste - Graham Greene and Jane Austen; W.G. Sebald and Alice Munro.

Spend some effort in figuring out why each decision did or did not pan out. Doing that systematically is key: really try to question the way you make decisions, and improve it.

Fundamentalist groups like Christian Embassy have infiltrated the very top of the U.S. military and gained positions of influence in the Pentagon.

Never perform for your family. They either laugh too hard or not at all.

Maybe it's a sick fantasy of mine, but I am really looking forward to a debate between a general and a deserter. Plus, I really want to hear President Bush have to say, "Yes, General, No, General."

Use the worst colour you can find in each place - it usually is the best.

Paul created a theology of which none but the vaguest warrants can be found in the words of Christ.