I'm not one that believes that affirmative action should be based on one's skin color or one's gender, I think it should be done based on one's need, because I think if you are from a poor white community, I think that poor white kid needs a scholarship just as badly as a poor black kid.

If diversity is O.K. for God, it ought to be O.K. for Republicans.

Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn't be related.

My work in the House of Representatives, at this time in my life, is completed. It is time to return home.

It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.

Republicans and Democrats have used accounting gimmicks and competing government analyses to deceive the public into believing that 2 + 2 = 6. If our leaders cannot agree on the numbers, if 'facts' are fictional, how can they possibly have a substantive debate on solutions?

I do think, however, that there's a very diverse point of view in the African-American community. There's a lot of different voices that need to be heard. I don't claim and pretend to know the thoughts and opinions and ideas of all African-Americans.