My mother was my Girl Scout leader, and George's mother was his Cub Scout leader. In fact, that's when some say her hair turned white.

The English language lacks the words 'to mourn an absence.' For the loss of a parent, grandparent, spouse, child or friend we have all manner of words and phrases, some helpful, some not. Still, we are conditioned to say something, even if it is only 'I am sorry for your loss.' But for an absence, for someone who was never there at all, we are wordless to capture that particular emptiness. For those who deeply want children and are denied them, those missing babies hover like silent, ephemeral shadows over their lives. Who can describe the feel of a tiny hand that is never held?

For countries to succeed, for democracies to succeed, the women and men in those countries need to be free. Women and men need to know their rights.

The power of a book lies in its power to turn a solitary act into a shared vision. As long as we have books, we are not alone.

certainly the women's health part is something that I've become very interested in. It's not something I thought about when George [Bush] was elected...what I'd always been interested in was education.

Leadership is not about popularity, it is about doing what is right.

No one likes to be criticized.