My mother taught me how to read very early on and at school I was ahead of everyone in class... Reading was always something that I liked because I could do it alone and I was alone a lot of the time with my mother working the hours she did. Books became my friends very early on.

I remain hopeful that science, innovation and kindness will come to the fore as things become more and more tense in parts of the world. I think what you are seeing in the world right now is kind of a leveling or an attempt to level the playing field.

I would like go to Palestine and interview people there about what their lives are like; same thing in Iran.

I'm not artistic nor am I all that creative.

You can't get your head around something if you're yelling.

Citizens United didn't work. Hey, Koch brothers, Karl Rove, Shellgame Adelson: Democracy trumps money sometimes.

Life is a hurdle and you'll never clear it. Death is the end of the ride and you fear it.