I defend myself by improving myself.

I was born two months early, and everyone had given up on me. But my mother insisted on my life.

You don't have to become something you're not to be better than you were.

I find myself, at this time in my life, no less challenged, no less plagued, no less intrigued by what I still don't know.

I had two roles for which I compromised.

I was a gift to my mother. She was a remarkable person. God or nature, or whatever those forces are, smiled on her, then passed me the best of her.

Forgiveness works two ways, in most instances. People have to forgive themselves too. The powerful have to forgive themselves for their behavior. That should be a sacred process.