I never wanted to be run of the mill.

The arts are not a frill. The arts are a response to our individuality and our nature, and help to shape our identity. What is there that can transcend deep difference and stubborn divisions? The arts. They have a wonderful universality. Art has the potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator. The arts do not discriminate. The arts lift us up.

I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in 'We, the people.'

If the society today allows wrongs to go unchallenged, the impression is created that those wrongs have the approval of the majority.

There is no obstacle in the path of young people who are poor or members of minority groups that hard work and preparation cannot cure.

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.

In other times, I could stand here and give this kind of exposition on the beliefs of the Democratic Party and that would be enough. But today that is not enough. People want more.