We don't think well of our presidents when they are serving. Even Kennedy, with such a short presidency, was beginning to lose his remarkable appeal to the American people when he was suddenly sainted by death.

You simply disobey. Peaceably, yes. Respectfully, of course. Nonviolently, absolutely. But when told how to think or what to say or how to behave, we don't. We disobey the social protocol that stifles and stigmatizes personal freedom.

If you talk about race, it does not make you a racist. If you see distinctions between the genders, it does not make you a sexist. If you think critically about a denomination, it does not make you anti-religion. If you accept but don't celebrate homosexuality, it does not make you a homophobe.

I always work on the theory that the audience will believe you best if you believe yourself.

I have played some of the great men in history and I believe in the great man who does heroic deeds, even in these egalitarian times.

You can spend a lifetime, and, if you're honest with yourself, never once was your work perfect.

One way or another, if you're persistent, fortune always smiles on you.