For more than eight decades, Washington has been my hometown. ... It is a city that offers me more people -- more different kinds of people -- than I could otherwise possibly have come to know in a lifetime: the native Washingtonian, the local merchant, the foreign diplomat, the ever-present tourist, the public servant, the journalist, the president, the friend.

The only way I can describe the extent of my anxiety is to say that I felt as if I were pregnant with a rock.

Some questions don't have answers, which is a terribly difficult lesson to learn.

What I essentially did was to put one foot in front of the other, shut my eyes and step off the ledge. The surprise was that I landed on my feet.

In Washington, the public and the private intertwine in such a way that they can't be easily separated. This is the city where the personal and the political are most closely linked.

No one can avoid aging, but aging productively is something else.

To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?