The American Founding Fathers gave us courts, independent jurists. They left room for civil society, which meant that citizens could directly associate in order to bring pressure on their governments. And they gave us a free press. They understood that you might have in the presidency someone who wanted to arrogate power into themselves. And they believed that was dangerous, having just experienced King George. And so they built a balanced system.

When somebody underestimated me, it made me want to prove them wrong.

Fortunately, I started very young, so I read music very well. And my favorite composers to play are Brahms and Mozart.

It's so much a part of me that it's almost hard to describe myself in the absence of it. I know that for me it means asking for guidance, and that in the toughest times there's a personal savior that I can rely on. And I'm very grateful to my parents for giving me that.

It takes courage to set priorities because doing so is an admission that American policy cannot be all things to all people - or rather to all interest groups

The first Republican I knew was my father and he is still the Republican I most admire. He joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did. My father has never forgotten that day, and neither have I.

There is nothing better than being in a classroom with really, really brilliant students, and opening up new worlds to them. That's what I love doing.