Almost everybody embraces life.

We have a middle class that lives on a razor blade. So sometimes when you say poverty, you neglect a large portion of the population.

A lot of sad stories in a row - that wears on you.

Part of resilience is deciding to make yourself miserable over something that matters, or deciding to make yourself miserable over something that doesn't matter.

At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by the highest public office we attained in our lifetime, if that were true the current president (George W. Bush) would hold as much esteem as Franklin Roosevelt in our country, and Nelson Mandela in his. That cannot be the case. Rather, we will each be judged by the mark we've left on others.

You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces - my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined.

If people think that you're throwing babies out, dissecting children, to do stem-cell research, I'm not for that.