One should never send soldiers on a mission based on just good will and good intent. Unfortunately, that can mean one has to stand by and watch human rights abuses take place.

Confidentiality and transparency are not mutually exclusive, but rather two sides of the same coin.

You cannot protect something without intervening on some level.

Everyone learns in a crisis.

The Americans are and remain our best friends, but this is absolutely not right. We can't simply return to business as usual.

I am sympathetic to the fact that Turkey is doing everything it can to prevent the civil war in Syria from spilling over into its own country.

Political leaders have to withstand headwinds.

Showing strength is different than showing muscle.

Security matters should not be entrusted to people who make decisions without weighing things up.

I don't want anybody to accuse me of taking advantage of the situation to pursue a particular political agenda.

From my perspective, the state has to assume responsibility for the integrity of international communications.

People wonder when you're allowed to call yourself a writer. I think maybe the answer is when you recognize that is work." - Nina MacLaughlin, 'With Compliments

We never get over our fathers, and we’re not required to. (Irish Proverb)

Why destroy this Morn, by a Past that is dead & Gone and a Future not yet Born! - RVM.

he tried to prepare himself for disappointment, even as he yearned to be proven wrong

Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.

Plot and scene are still the hardest things for me, though I think they're the building blocks of what makes a story work.

That realm is never long in quiet, where the ruler is a soldier.

Freedom and relationship are polar opposites - they both exist on the same continuum. You DO want a relationship - and you DO want freedom - what you really want is BALANCE, you want wholeness.

Zoology, eh? That's a big word, isn't it." "No, actually it isn't," said Tiffany. "Patronizing is a big word. Zoology is really quite short.

He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.