If the strong exploit the weak, democracy will not be stable.

To say that people around the world deserve the same, the same life that we have in the United States, the same freedoms that we have, that seems to me, humble. I think it's humble to say that the United States, which has been given so much, should give back.

My mom was a teacher - I have the greatest respect for the profession - we need great teachers - not poor or mediocre ones.

Even when you cherish democratic ideals, it is never easy to turn them into effective democratic institutions. This process will take decades.

We can't rely - or no country can rely on just a single personality to carry it forward. And so what the American founding fathers understood was that institutions were built for human imperfection not human perfection.

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

One of the signs that things are going reasonably well for democracy is that we have the states where they're closer to the people. Federalism is a strength. We have all of these civil society institutions - civil society is a very important hallmark of democracy.