I don't really have the luxury to be bitter. I don't have the luxury of having negative things in my life.

And I thank God I believe in God, or I would probably be enormously angry right now.

Today, now, it is time to move forward, a time to look for what is good in others, what is good in our country. It is time to see what we have in common, what we have to share as human beings and citizens.

The Constitution, in addition to delegating certain enumerated powers to Congress, places whole areas outside the reach of Congress' regulatory authority. The First Amendment, for example, is fittingly celebrated for preventing Congress from "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion or "abridging the freedom of speech." The Second Amendment similarly appears to contain an express limitation on the government's authority.

My grandfather could barely read. My grandmother had a sixth-grade education. They were people who were industrious. They were frugal.

Government cannot make us equal; it can only recognize, respect, and protect us as equal before the law. That [affirmative action] programs may have been motivated, in part, by good intentions cannot provide refuge from the principle that under our Constitution, the government may not make distinctions on the basis of race.

The myths that are created about the South, about the way we grew up, about black people, are wrong.