Progress for black Americans depends on good schools because education is the last great equalizer.

And what most people don't understand is the bulk of business in this country is small business.

And I'm the kind of manager that doesn't believe that you micro-manage professionals. They should understand their responsibility and carry out those responsibility.

But we look back now, and we realize the Great Society was not a success.

After leaving law school, I intentionally said that I never wanted to hold a job more than six years.

Progress for black Americans depends on good schools because education is the last great equalizer.

But I do know this: that the two and a half years that I've been at HUD, I am absolutely convinced that some of the best workers in the world are in Federal Government.

One of the problems that we are confronted with is, when we decide to buy or build a home, we don't get a clear picture of what closing costs will be of that home.

As you know, in this country Anglo-Americans are about 75 to 76 percent home ownership in this country, where Hispanics, African Americans are less than 50 percent.

I think that there will always be a need for Housing and Urban Development.

We believe that, by the time that we leave office, it will be institutionalized, and these programs will be addressing the needs and curing the problem that we set out to do.

So, we're saying, if we can give developers and builders incentives to cut down on the regulatory barriers that are faced in this country, then we might be able to address the needs of affordable housing.

In the final analysis, it is your decision to make, but it doesn't move as fast as I'd like it to move.

America is a place where you can be born into a low-income household but still lift yourself up, and it doesn't matter what color you are.

HUD's mission is to provide decency and sanitary housing for low and moderate income people in this country.

They take pride in their schools. They begin to participate, where, when they are renters, they don't do that. So what we're doing by this program is strengthening America.

I believe that if you are elderly, physically or mentally handicapped we have an obligation too you, but if you are able-bodied, you should be working.

The other part of outsourcing is this: it simply says where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it.

The Bush administration is the most diverse in history because the president fills jobs on the basis of a person's capabilities and qualifications, not on the color of his or her skin.

You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand.

And I always like to stress, it's not a quota, not a set-aside, it's not about race, it's about giving opportunities to demonstrate their abilities to do work with the Federal Government.

For the first half of my adult life, I was a Democrat.

In 1965, I marched for equality.

So, I have the responsibility of making sure that HUD functions and runs well.

I think serving your government is the greatest thing in the world.

The largest challenge that we face, from my perspective, is the ability to continue moving forward so the agency will have a single mission: that is, to provide decent, safe, and affordable housing.

The dream doesn't lie in victimization or blame; it lies in hard work, determination and a good education.

And for far too long, the Democrats have had a monopoly on black votes in this country.

Working-class Americans have waited too long, close to a decade in fact, for an increase in the minimum wage. This has been the second longest period without a pay raise since the Federal minimum wage law was first enacted in 1938.

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

Americans seem sometimes to believe that if you are a thinker you must be a frowning bore, because thinking is so damn serious.

Americans are big boys. You can talk them into almost anything. Just sit with them for half an hour over a bottle of whiskey and be a nice guy.

Alabama citizens, like the vast majority of Americans, respect and value the meaning of decency, and appreciate public institutions that reflect the common values of our society.

People are stunned to hear that one company has data files on 185 million Americans.

Native Americans are the original inhabitants of the land that now constitutes the United States. They have helped develop the fundamental principles of freedom of speech and separation of powers that form the foundation of the United States Government.

I understand about this idea of terror and what it means to Americans and this idea that we can't just walk around free like we did; life has changed.

I mean, the reality is unemployment today - over 14 million Americans are unemployed. That's exactly what it was a year ago. I mean, this - the American people know we can't borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy.

There seems to be this sense among even well-meaning Americans that Africa is this black hole of murder and mutilation that can never be fixed, no matter what aid is brought in.

Currently, not only are Americans taxed on what they earn, but those assets are taxed again when they are passed on to a loved one.

In 2001, Congress passed much needed tax relief to allow Americans to keep more of their hard earned money and spend it as they see fit - rather than how the federal government sees fit.

Most Americans approach the problems of the Middle East with a pro-Israeli bias - and rightly so.

Backward is just not a natural direction for Americans to look - historical ignorance remains a national characteristic.

In the United States, there one feels free... Except from the Americans - but every pearl has its oyster.

Americans admire a people who can scratch a desert and produce a garden. The Israelis have shown qualities that Americans identify with: guts, patriotism, idealism, a passion for freedom. I have seen it. I know. I believe that.

I know that we're being inexorably taken over by the Americans. Without a doubt. I don't mean invaded or anything like that, just taken over. By degrees.

The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth.

The poorest residents of the gulf coast were most affected by the devastating hurricanes, and the poorest Americans have shouldered a disproportionate share of the burden in Iraq.

The way Americans understand and treat other peoples almost guarantees that the world will suffer more trouble.

I'm not sure Americans are hesitant to do this again - to fight another war, because it looked to them like a courageous and terrific endeavor.