Emotions get in the way but they don't pay me to start crying at the loss of 269 lives. They pay me to put some perspective on the situation.

Pessimists calculate the odds. Optimists believe they can overcome them.

What Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions, they are Commandments. Are, not were.

In the days of Caesar, kings had fools and jesters. Now network presidents have anchormen.

Would anyone else like to say anything nice about women?

Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail ­ as you surely will adjust your lives, not the standards.

President Carter famously said the hostages were the first thing he thought about in the morning and the last thing he thought about at night. It was a downright foolish thing to say, because it made the people holding the hostages realize that they had an awful lot of influence over the United States.