Above all, being a Democrat means having compassion for others. ... It means standing up for people who have been kept down.

It's nice not to have to worry about constituents, now, I simply do what I want.

It is simply untrue that all our institutions are evil,... that all politicians are mere opportunists, that all aspects of university life are corrupt. Having discovered an illness, it's not terribly useful to prescribe death as a cure.

And this is the time. It is the time for this land to become again a witness to the world for what is noble and just in human affairs. It is the time to live more with faith and less with fear- with an abiding confidence that can sweep away the strongest barriers between us and teach us that we truly are brothers and sisters.

Never say anything that, down inside, you think is wrong.

I never even had the time to read novels.

When I was in the war, I was lucky that I was in a plane and never saw the carnage close-up.