I've heard all my life that 'this is impossible, you can't make' it and 'you're going to fail' but I didn't listen to them and I made it.

We want to make sure children aren't left without any books. We want to make sure our children have the books, that they have a place in the castle. We want to make sure that their mothers have affordable day care. We want to make sure we give the older people the care that they need.

I have inhaled, exhaled everything.

Well, you know, I'm the forever optimist.

A girl can talk about my nose, my teeth or my accent - anything that gets a conversation going is fine with me. It is weird, though, the way women respond to my body. Maybe 50 percent respond positively right away, while another 25 or 30 percent need a while to adjust to my size and to realize that ordinarily my muscles are soft, just like anyone's, only bigger.

As a kid I always idolized the winning athletes. It is one thing to idolize heroes. It is quite another to visualize yourself in their place. When I saw great people, I said to myself: I can be there.

Freedom is a right ultimately defended by the sacrifice of America's servicemen and women.