You have to be prepared to think outside the box...Stand back and think about what we could do creativity. We've got to do that to push the field forward.

When you see a great teacher, you are seeing a work of art.

I want to be a children’s hero… Children need heroes because heroes give hope; without hope they have no future.

It's easy to have faith when everything is going great. The real test of faith is when you're facing something that only your faith in God will get you through.

Build an organization that can tackle the tough things and keep moving.

Education is the only billion dollar industry that tolerates abject failure.

Osama Bin Laden is not going to come here and destroy America. Our education system is doing that just fine.

Boys want to grow up to be like their male role models. And boys who grow up in homes with absent fathers search the hardest to figure out what it means to be male.

When I was growing up, kids used to talk about snitching... It never extended as a cultural norm outside of the gangsters.

Let's stop teaching to the middle and start teaching to the student.

Many schools today are sacrificing social studies, the arts and physical education so children can cover basic subjects like math, English and science.

A friend of mine always says, ‘Women love me for the man I’m not.’

India, in particular, is looking to develop nuclear power for domestic, commercial use, and we should work with them. This is a good deal for both countries.

Nature, like a true poet, abhors abrupt transitions.

I smoked for many years like a total idiot.

I never notice what is said about me. I am credited with things I have never done, and abused for them. It would be idle to attempt to contradict newspaper talk and street rumors.

Fasting humbles you and brings clarity, even allowing you to get unforgiveness and bitterness out of your heart.

You continue to evolve with each album that goes by and, as an artist, you continue to expand with every recording project.

No one will be forced to take the public option. The word option means choice.

Seems to me that there is no better way to experience the depth of loss than after the fact. No more powerful instrument of imbuing value in an object than parting with it.