You never know the hurt others endure in this world behind the closed windows of their life, or the joy a simple act of kindness can bring.

My dogs have been the reason I have woken up every single day of my life with a smile on my face.

Dogs, for a reason that can only be described as divine, have the ability to forgive, let go of the past, and live each day joyously. It’s something the rest of us strive for.

She wasn’t just a faithful friend, she was the closest thing to heaven I allowed myself to know. Through her I received joy in my heart and began to love others.

If we are ever in doubt what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done.

A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.

We must help each other to be present and compassionate. Remember that we have no idea what the person next to us is going through; compassion is the only choice.

At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better

He helped John Cusak get his girlfriend back.

The American way is the way most law-abiding Americans live - in debt. Does this make a balanced budget un-American?

To administer is to govern: to govern is to reign. That is the essence of the problem.

Islamism is not Islam. Islamism is the politicisation of Islam, the desire to impose a version of this ancient faith over society.

The idea that academics should remain ''above the fray'' only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.

African Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do.