Our patriotic fervor was the result of the old and widespread belief in the idea of American exceptionalism, the idea that America was a new thing in history, different from other countries. Other nations had evolved one way or another, evolved from tribes from a gathering of clans, from inevitabilities of language and tradition and geography. But America was born, and born of ideas: that all men are created equal, that they have been given by God certain rights that can be taken from them by no man, and that those rights combine to create a thing called freedom.

Candor is a compliment; it implies equality. It's how true friends talk.

If you join government, calmly make your contribution and move on. Don't go along to get along; do your best and when you have to - and you will - leave, and be something else.

The biggest improvement in the flow of information in America in our lifetimes is that no single group controls the news anymore.

Loyalty consists of many things, including being truthful with our friends. When you really disagree, you have to say so.

We must try again to be alive to what the people of our country really long for in our national life: forgiveness and grace, maturity and wisdom. ...Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.

But one immediate thing can be done right now, and that is: lower the temperature. Any way you can, and everybody. Just lower it.