Well, it all began with Democracy. Before we had the vote all the power was in the hands of rich people. If you had money you could get health care, education, look after yourself when you were old, and what democracy did was to give the poor the vote and it moved power from the marketplace to the polling station, from the wallet...to the ballot.

Someone comes every morning at nine o'clock to see if I am still alive. I do get lonely, yes, but I have the children who come and see me. I see all my children every week, and there are the grandchildren, too.

It is wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his

The one thing that unites Sunni, Shiites and Kurds is they want the Americans out.

The thought that my mother would suddenly be a foreigner would upset me very much.

I see myself as an old man and an unqualified teacher to the nation. I think being a teacher is probably the most important thing you can be in politics.

The exhaustion of old age is something people who are younger don't fully appreciate.