I'm proud to report that in 2004 alone, we approved 3,600 new units of housing - our best year ever!

Diversity gives our city a competitive edge.

Boston is the engine of the state's economy.

And it was from Boston that one in every six American families began their journey into the land of the free.

I am also committed to providing city employees with housing assistance.

Here's what I see all across this great city - people working together to make Boston a better place to live and to raise children, to grow and pursue dreams.

One of our key strategies has been to restructure traditional high schools into small learning communities with personalized attention and a range of options.

Children need continuity as they grow and learn.

I'm proud to report that in 2004 alone, we approved 3,600 new units of housing - our best year ever!

Let's use the energy of this historic year to propel us toward our shared vision of a greater Boston.

The true privilege of being Mayor is that I have the opportunity to be everyone's neighbor.

We were the first urban school system in the country to wire all of our schools for the Internet.

Currently, Boston has only nine percent of the state's population - but we provide more than 16 percent of the jobs and 19 percent of the state's revenues.

I brought together experts from health care, business, academic institutions, and the community to develop a comprehensive blueprint for eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care in the City of Boston.

Boston is safe. And we're going to keep it safe.

Tonight, I am pleased to announce that I have secured $1 million from the Convention Host Committee to fund the beautification of Boston's neighborhoods.

The true value of sport is more than the skills that young people learn.

Preparing our city to achieve its destiny will require strong leadership.

And for the city's birthday, we will host events in every neighborhood of the city, inviting all of our residents to share in the celebration of Boston's great epic - the story of neighbors who support one another where it matters most.

For every $5 that Boston's economy sends up to Beacon Hill, the state gives only $1 back to us.

We must be vigilant in our actions towards criminals, and innovative in our approach towards solving crime.

I am working hard to ensure that working families can continue to afford to live in our city.

Boston is known for its innovation.

In the 1990s, we introduced Boston's community policing strategy. We reversed the tide of violent crime that threatened our city, and we established a national model for preventing and fighting crime.

My fellow citizens, the state of our city is strong.

2004 was a great year for Boston! The Patriots won the Super Bowl! Boston hosted its first national political convention! And - the Red Sox won the World Series!

These are national problems that require national solutions.

This is a bad day for Boston, but I think if we pull together we'll get through it.

Boston is the engine of the states economy.

I grew up with a Christmas tree Im going to stay with a Christmas tree.

Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections.

I never did any training in journalism or in finance, so I really was in the deep end. I got very good at going to press conferences and nodding. I'd figure it out when I got back to the office. Charts and numbers. I've never been great with facts, ever, my whole life. For a journalist, that's not a very good trait.

Listening is harder than just acting. Listening is the hardest part.

Organizations like the ACLU fought and won the good fight back in the 1960's, but it's clear that nowadays they've run out of useful things to do since they now spend most of their time defending the scum of the Earth from getting what they rightly deserve.

I guess my journey with comics began with stuff like Spider-Man and Batman. I started off with mainstream superhero stuff, which I've never abandoned.

I didn't come out until 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening. Sleep all day, sleep and cook and eat, stay in the house. That sun is hot, anyway. It ain't right out there.

Cakes are healthy too you just eat a small slice.

Tis weak and vicious people who cast the blame on Fate. The right use of Fate is to bring up our conduct to the loftiness of nature.

I think that's part of the fun of being an actor - you get to not be normal all of the time.

I worry about how accessible cosmetic surgery has become. Of course, if it has genuinely helped people, and their confidence has grown as a result; who am I to form an opinion?

Don't you know this, that words are doctors to a diseased temperment?

It's worth turning up to an awards gig if you know you've won one but, since you never do know, it's not worth it.

I focus a little more on pacing when I write books in the young adult category, and of course there's the great American fear of anything sexual, so that's somewhat backed off in YA.

Young people want you to be real with them.

It was extremely hard going from being a parent of one to a parent of three, because now all these instant decisions have to be made about how you balance out the time and attention between them.

Early in my publishing career, someone told me I'd need to have five books in print before I could quit my job as a journalist. Turns out it was closer to 10 books. It also turns out that while it's great to see my titles on bookstore shelves, my best customers are schools and libraries.

God never promised us a trouble-free life.

Finders keepers, losers weepers

It's bizarre, that feeling as an actor, at being in the mecca of the film world and seeing billboards for a TV show that you're in pretty much everywhere.