To be a skilled politician, you have to be genuine. To really make it work, you have to love people. You have to love the contact, you have to love the energy, you've gotta love inspiring people and getting their adulation in return. You can't separate what's genuine from what is necessary.

I think that it's difficult to talk about large questions of economics or social policy without understanding the building blocks of society. And those building blocks are organizations, the people who run them, and the people who work in them.

Humor itself is a great disinfectant. It enables people to listen.

You`ve got to just follow the money [in Washington]. You see it. There`s no countervailing power.

There`s sort of a chilling effect on non-profits and the media and a lot of other places because the establishment is so powerful. That`s where the money is.

You can't create a political movement out of pabulum.

There is a crisis of public morality. Instead of policing bedrooms, we ought to be doing a better job policing boardrooms.