I've never joined any political party and have no plans to do so. I'm fully independent.

You know, people get frustrated because their loved ones who have Alzheimer's, oh, he doesn't recognize me anymore, how can I recognize this person, if they don't recognize me? They're not the same person. Well, they are the same person, but they've got a brain disease. And it's not their fault they've got this disease.

We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology.

I'm aware that most people who meet me for the first time think of me in a certain way because of who my father is. That just comes with the territory. But that's been that way ever since I was a little kid as long as I can remember. I grew up that way.

My father didn't know George W. Bush from Adam.

I mean, we've had all these awful pictures from the prison in Iraq and these sort of memos floating around about justifying torture, all this kind of stuff. And it makes you want to take a shower, you know?

I admire the fact that the central core of Buddhist teaching involves mindfulness and loving kindness and compassion.