Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

It will take a long time, and certainly the West will remain the dominant civilization well into the next century, but the decline is occurring.

It was one thing to contain the Soviet Union in Europe because Britain, France, and Germany were all willing to join in. But will Japan and other Asian countries be willing to join in the containment of China?

And the big question for the West, of course, and to the Europeans is, what other countries, which were formerly part of the Soviet bloc, should be incorporated into western institutions?

Thus, biologically speaking the American people are literally only half an immigrant people.

The British were white, English, and Protestant, just as we were. They had to have some other basis on which to justify independence, and happily they were able to formulate the inalienable truths set forth in the Declaration.

Finally, in my critique of the immigration image of America, it is also important to know that we're not only a nation of immigrants, but we are in some part a nation of emigrants, which often gets neglected.

I think clearly the United States, as well as other western nations, should stand by their commitments to human rights and democracy and should try to influence other countries to move in that direction.

Much of what we now consider to be problems concerning immigration and assimilation really concern Mexican immigration and assimilation.

The other aspect of American identity worth focusing on is the concept of America as a nation of immigrants. That certainly is a partial truth. But it is often assumed to be the total truth.

We also thought of ourselves in racial and largely ethnic terms.

Total falsehoods can be easily exposed for what they are by citing exceptions to their claims. Hence, they are less likely to be accepted as the total truth.

And so in terms of territorial control, in terms of economic preeminence, the western share of the gross world product is declining as Asian societies in particular develop economically.

We really only came around to accepting and integrating the propositional dimension of identity into a concept of ourselves at the time of the American Revolution.

But then I came to the conclusion that no, while there may be an immigration problem, it isn't really a serious problem. The really serious problem is assimilation.

The great problem there is we have to have the cooperation of those other Asian countries.

The West hasn't reached its universal state as yet, although its close to it, but it certainly has evolved out of its warring state phase, which it was in for a couple of centuries.

They weren't immigrating to some existing society; indeed, they often did whatever they could do to destroy whatever existed here in the way of Indian society.

In 1920, the West ruled huge amounts of the world.

Also, of course, for most of this time most Americans thought of America as a white country with, at best, only a very segregated and subordinate role for blacks.

Immigrants are people who leave one country, one society, and move to another society. But there has to be a recipient society to which the immigrants move.

First of all, we haven't always welcomed immigrants.

Well, I think the United States first of all has to recognize the world for what it is.

Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

Our relationship with Mexico in this regard is unique for us, and in many respects unique in the world.

Mexican immigration poses challenges to our policies and to our identity in a way nothing else has in the past.

It was this society and culture that among other things - including economic opportunities here and repression in Europe - attracted subsequent generations of immigrants to this country.

Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.

Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

Collective will supplants individual whim.

Immanuel Kant famously claimed that 'he who wills the ends wills the means,' but he never spent much time in Washington.

People used to say that advertising wasn't in Google's DNA, and that's obviously not true anymore. They used to say that display advertising isn't in Google's DNA, and that's not true any more.

The only really expensive thing in our family budget, frankly, is private air travel.

When I was interviewed after I got hired to replace Walter Alston, a future Hall of Famer, I was asked: 'Don't you feel pressure on you?' I said: 'Want to know something? I'm worried about the guy who's going to have to replace me.'

I like movies that resonate, that give voice to the voiceless.

Give your teachers the respect they deserve, because they are the ones who can help you get where you need to go.

You can't be too careful what you tell a child because you never know what he'll take hold of and spend the rest of his life remembering you by.

Scientists announced that they have located the gene for alcoholism. Scientists say they found it at a party, talking way too loudly.

The only thing I have never done is a Broadway play. I'm not sure I have the discipline necessary to do a Broadway play. I know it holds a fascination for certain actors.

You see, I was never stage-struck the way most girls were.

Blip.tv is growing its audience by forming partnerships with traditional TV manufacturers and a new breed of company in the set-top box market that lets consumers connect to the Internet via their televisions.

Americans are far more remarkable than we give ourselves credit for. We've been so busy damning ourselves for years. We've done it all, and yet we don't take credit for it.

The only way to make something cheaply today is to have it mass-produced. For example, you wear the same shoes as everyone else. If you had a fabber, you could custom-make shoes that perfectly fit your feet. Three-dimensional printing will help us move away from the mass consumption that is so deeply ingrained in our culture.

It will appear evident upon attentive consideration that equality of intellectual and physical advantages is the only sure foundation of liberty, and that such equality may best, and perhaps only, be obtained by a union of interests and cooperation in labor.

I was married to a dancer who had a dance company in New York City, and she toured.

We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.

When I lived in Delhi, it was burdened with so many futures - fast roads, malls, flyovers - that one felt almost obliged to be hopeful. Now that hope has diminished, you can feel the city going into a frenzy to reinvent itself. I miss living there.

Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?

If I move one way, I lose a couple votes. If I move another way, I lose a couple votes.