Everyone's goal is to be happy. Happiness is achieved by promoting happiness to others.

I think people instinctively know that their job is to give service and that they are part of a community. It had a great impact on me when my father walked the picket lines and I walked with him during the civil rights movement.

You've got to put your head down and do the work. There are no shortcuts.

I always say neediness is the cause of suffering. I'm not the only one who says it. It's something I adopted and I believe.

I don't want to appease everyone. It seems very difficult to be steadfast on truth and be a politician.

I feel the choices our president Barack Obama is making now are safer and better.

The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit words man, ("to think") and tra ("tool'). So the literal translation is "a tool of thought." And that's how mantras are used in Buddhist and Hindu practices, as tools that clear your mind of distractions. Because when you focus on repeating that mantra over and over again, soon the noise will die down and all you will hear is your inner voice.