[The American position at the UN is] essentially impotent, without influence, heavily outvoted, and isolated.

Cultural constraints condition and limit our choices, shaping our characters with their imperatives.

Democrats can't get elected unless things get worse-and things won't get worse unless they get elected.

Mr. President, we've taken off our "Kick Me" sign.

History is a better guide than good intentions.

Truth, which is important to a scholar, has to be concrete. And there is nothing more concrete than dealing with babies, burps and bottles, frogs and mud.

Democracy not only requires equality but also an unshakable conviction in the value of each person, who is then equal. Cross cultural experience teaches us not simply that people have different beliefs, but that people seek meaning and understand themselves in some sense as members of a cosmos ruled by God.