For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither.

[I'm] very fortunate and blessed person who still has a lot of living to do.

I will never forget the bright September day, standing at my desk in the White House, when my young assistant said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center - and then a second one - and a third, the Pentagon.

I talked about the need for American leadership, I talked about the importance of the United States to a more peaceful world, a world that has been quite turbulent in recent years, and needs a strong American anchor.

Multilateral diplomacy is hard. It's slower, it's tougher, it's a bigger slog. I've learned that sometimes the things you'd most like to do something about, you really have difficulty unless the international community really mobilizes.

We can't afford to let the international community and the world lose faith in the diplomatic track.

I get letters from kids from all over the country. I always try to answer them because there were people I looked up to in my youth and just wanted to be in contact with. It's also important to realize that you find your role models in a lot of different places. I've never believed that your role models have to look like you. You can find them in all sort of colors, shapes and sizes.