In a day and age of global competition and instantaneous financial flows, you have to be highly sensitive to the way in which tax policy impacts your overall competitiveness as a country.

But economic recovery must be earned. And it will be earned by entrepreneurs and it will be earned by small businesses.

The real secret about diplomats is that we're trained to say something, when there is nothing to say, and to say nothing when there is something to say.

Our political debates today are corrosive and not reflective of the belief that Abe Lincoln espoused back in his day: that we are a great country because we are a good country.

To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.

The reality, sitting ten thousand miles away, is that we remain the country that inspires. We remain that shining city on a hill.

My father, one of the great entrepreneurs and philanthropists of this state, taught me that capital - monetary or political - is to be used to benefit others. I intend to continue that tradition.

Politics is a lot of serendipity. You're in the right place and the right time and you've got the right message, and it either connects for you or, or it doesn't.

When America closes its doors, so does everybody else.

It's taken a lot of presidents to get us where we are today, a lot of deployments, a lot of wars, a lot engagements. You add them all up.

If we can't find cuts in the defense budget, we're not looking carefully enough.

Making your Christmas cake in September is perfect, as too fresh a cake crumbles when cut.

I don't believe in life after death. But I do believe in some grinding destiny that watches over us on earth. If I didn't, the safety valve would give and the boiler would explode.

Human beings are human beings. They say what they want, don't they? They used to say it across the fence while they were hanging wash. Now they just say it on the Internet.

some genius of the South With blood-hot eyes and cane-lipped scented mouth, Surprised in making folk-songs from soul sounds.

Art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light.

You can't play sports without losing sometimes and, in losing, you learn something about grace and how to act under pressure.

Sometimes I make my life a living hell by writing complex stories with complex characters. But I love it.

Life is beauty, admire it.

It's really easy to create a $1 billion company - you just have to solve a $10 billion problem.