It was really wonderful playing with Aretha [ Franklin]. I knew that she knew what she was doing, so all I had to do was sit in the background and vamp a little bit.

We [USA] need to deal with our problems here at home if we're going to be strong enough to lead abroad.

Most middle-class Americans, even working-class Americans, encounter each other across racial lines all the time, but it gets really hard-core when you get into that witches' brew that is the combination of race and poverty.

Defeating human trafficking is a great moral calling of our time...

Punish France, ignore Germany, and forgive Russia.

To see an African-American elected president means that this country is really finally coming full circle from the birth defect of slavery.

You have to have a strong sense of your values and a strong sense of who you are, because there are a lot of events and a lot of people who will pull you in this direction or that direction.