A damn independent boy; independent as a hog on ice.

If a man has common sense, he has all the sense there is.

When you get too big a majority, you're immediately in trouble.'

A damn independent boy; independent as a hog on ice.

Too many critics mistake the deliberations of the Congress for its decisions.

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.

If you want to get along, go along.

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.

I like power and I like to use it.

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.

A jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one.

The real actor has a direct line to the collective heart.

Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.

You'll never get mixed up if you simply tell the truth. Then you don't have to remember what you have said, and you never forget what you have said.

Son, always tell the truth. Then you'll never have to remember what you said the last time.

Any jackass can kick a barn down but it takes a carpenter to build it.

As far as writing, I like watching bad movies. Nothing stops me in my tracks more than watching a great film like 'The Godfather' or 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'The Graduate.' You watch one of those, and you never want to write again. Whereas with bad movies, it makes you think, If that counts, I certainly could write.

Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class temperament. But his character remains highly suspect.

What is the most popular scene in the Bible? Adam and Eve biting the apple. It's not there.

The first thing you do when you get off tour is let off some steam and, you know, have some type of big breakdown.

Every positive change in your life begins with a clear, unequivocal decision that you are going to either do something or stop doing something.

When we were doing 'Live at Benaroya,' the song 'I Will' was hard to get through. I've always get a big lump in my throat when I sing that song. And also 'Before It Breaks.' So I'm just a different songwriter now. And the older I get, the more difficult it becomes to deliver those songs casually.

Scripture is not inerrant; believers are called to interpret biblical texts in light of tradition and reason.

I started rooting - you know, sticking up joints - with some older guys. By now I had gotten a taste of what the racket world really was - the glamour, the way they dressed, the way they always had a pocketful of money.

If you wrote something, you deserve to get paid and recognized for your work. No one should take a bow with another man's hat.

The tones of gray pale turquoise and pink will prevail.

Here, again, as I conceive, gentlemen forget that this government is a republican one, resting exclusively in the intelligence and virtue of the People.

I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.

I feel like contemporary art is everywhere now and with the rise of the internet, it's so much easier to see what artists are doing and to follow their careers.

I'm always open to the possibility that somebody's got a better idea than I have. It happens with some frequency.

I have faith the men and women of the Coast Guard will immediately rise to the challenge and see the people hit by Katrina through until the storm has truly calmed.

I think sometimes there are negative connotations for those who have a business mind as well as a creative side.

Ordinarily if an actor gets chosen for the lead in a film, he or she has already built up a repertoire, and everyone knows what he or she is capable of.

When you DJ, you're just on your own, which is nice because there's no argument.

My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don't really know me.

We are all just the tip of a pinprick of the millions of things that had to happen in order for us to be here.

I do a lot of shows I've actually never seen, and I hadn't seen 'Castle' or 'Scandal,' but it's fun to just go into someone's world for eight days and do your thing, and then leave.

I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence - providing they have the facts, providing they have the information.

Replace a goal of obedience with one of connection and trust instead. Children are drawn to follow those to whom they are emotionally connected. By parenting not for obedience but for relationship, kids are naturally inclined to follow your lead.

Grief is a species of idleness.