Hope is a state of mind independent of the state of the world. If your heart's full of hope, you can be persistent when you can't be optimistic. You can keep the faith despite the evidence, knowing that only in so doing has the evidence any chance of changing. So while I'm not optimistic, I'm always very hopeful.

It is a mistake to look to the Bible to close a discussion; the Bible seeks to open one.

Socrates had it wrong; it is not the unexamined but finally the uncommitted life that is not worth living.

What is faith? Faith is being grasped by the power of love.

We must be governed by the force of law, not by the law of force.

For finally, we are as we love. It is love that measures our stature.

We have sold our birthright of freedom and justice for a mess of national security.