Ending torture and tyranny in Iraq was not a mistake. Supporting democracy in Iraq is not a mistake. Helping the long-suffering Muslims of Iraq who now seek to live democratically is not a mistake. In the long, long history of the Middle East, this breakthrough may one day be ranked as a dramatic turning point in regional history.

In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The default condition of human societies is tyranny.

We really feel happier when things look bleak. Hope is endurance. Hope is holding on and going on and trusting in the Lord.

To go into a competition and not strive to win is to be a dishonest competitor.

Our capacity for self-deception has no known limits

Command by instinct is swifter, subtler, deeper, more accurate, more in touch with reality than command by conscious mind. The discovery takes one's breath away.

Our political institutions work remarkably well. They are designed to clang against each other. The noise is democracy at work.