I like my life. I've had a good life. I think the reason is my parents taught me that life is a burden. But if you take it one day at a time, it's an easy burden.

Influence is like a savings account, the less you use it, the more you've got

Moral power is probably best when it is not used. The less you use it the more you have.

The two are not mutually exclusive, but we think we can have wealth without good ideas and without values and without a clear vision. Wealth without vision is insanity.

Everybody is determined by his own experience.

There is a sense in which the United States Ambassador speaks to the United States, as well as for the United States. I have always seen my role as a thermostat, rather than a thermometer. So I'm going to be actively working... for my own concerns. I have always had people advise me on what to say, but never on what not to say.

We think it is complicated to change the world. Change comes little by little. Nothing worthwhile can happen in one generation.