I know that human prejudice - especially that growing out of race and religion - is cruelly inveterate and lasting.

Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.

The ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those aboard.

In calm water every ship has a good captain.

Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters.

A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.

A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.

What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?

Unswerving loyalty to duty, constant devotion to truth, and a clear conscience will overcome every discouragement and surely lead the way to usefulness and high achievement.

Above all, tell the truth.

Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.

Your days are only important if you decide to make them important.

People who want to understand democracy should spend less time in the library with Aristotle and more time on the buses and in the subway.

I'm the worst person about publicizing myself.

Victory needs conflict as its preface.

Some things never change and the intriguing things you fall in love with will become the things you don't like.

What you see is not what we see. What you see is distracted by memory, by being who you are, all this time, for all these years.

For a much lauded writer, I'm not terribly self-absorbed. In social situations, which are difficult for me - I mean, this is an interview - I'm normally uncomfortable talking about myself.

Most people think of success and failure as opposites, but they both are products of the same process.

Trying to rebuild Afghanistan on the cheap has left the country in the hands of warlords and an impotent Northern Alliance puppet regime that runs Kabul and nothing else.