It is not enough to merely defend democracy. To defend it may be to lose it; to extend it is to strengthen it. Democracy is not property; it is an idea.

The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it.

Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920's and 1930's when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother's keeper.

The difference between hearsay and prophecy is often one of sequence. Hearsay often turns out to have been prophecy.

A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.

The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights

The moral test of a society is how that society treats those who are in the dawn of life: the children; ... the elderly.

I learned more about the economy from one South Dakota dust storm that I did in all my years of college.

My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, baloney, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise on toasted bread with catsup on the side.

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

He just wanted to see what a girl who was crazy enough to kill herself looked like.

…her mom's faith wasn't just about God healing her, it was about God's sovereignty in her life. She had faith that God is, and will always be, who He says He is in His Word.

Poetry itself hasn't been well served by poets who fled to the margins.

A human being is all hope and impatience.

Some days I make 20 bets. Some days, I make none...so I wait, plan, marshal my resources. And when I finally see an opportunity and there is a bet to make, I bet it all.

And I have to tell you, as tough as farming is, the idea of farming when you’re losing money year after year... that’s not life even, that’s like death. That’s eternal damnation.

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game. Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

The same mentality that leads to environmental despoliation, environmental destruction, also leads to damage to people.

The task for us now, if we are to survive, is to build the earth.

Do not pass by the oasis without stopping to drink.