I was taught to strive not because there were any guarantees of success but because the act of striving is in itself the only way to keep faith with life.

China is in its own category - too big to ignore, too repressive to embrace, difficult to influence, and very, very proud.

If there's nobody in your way, you're not going anywhere.

In A Man With a Pipe, my brother observed that although my father had been seen as intellectual and my mother more a creature of temperament, she had often been the more levelheaded of the two. In sum, we miss them as we love them, equally and always.

It's important that we invest in America - literally. The terrorists wanted to destroy our economy, and we can't let our system fall apart. We also have to invest in one another.

Nobody's ever said that pins are a tool of diplomacy.

But I think there are some who believe they are actually protecting women, you know, and that it is better for women to be taken care of. I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important. And frankly, I don’t understand — I mean, I’m obviously a card-carrying Democrat — but I can’t understand why any woman would want to vote for Mitt Romney, except maybe Mrs. Romney.