I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there.

I was fifteen years old when I understood how it is that things break down: people can't imagine someone else's point of view.

Through reading, I escaped the bad parts of my life in the South Bronx. And, through books, I got to travel the world and the universe. It, to me, was a passport out of my childhood and it remains a way - through the power of words - to change the world.

For as long as I can remember, I have been inspired by the achievement of our founding fathers. They set forth principles that have endured for than more two centuries. Those principles are as meaningful and relevant in each generation as the generation before. It would be a profound privilege for me to play a role in applying those principles to the questions and controversies we face today.

I have never, ever focused on the negative of things. I always look at the positive.

I'm young at heart. I'm young in spirit, and I'm still adventurous.

When you come from a background like mine, where you're entering worlds that are so different than your own, you have to be afraid.