"The measure of a man is not how great his faith is, but how great his love is. We must not let government programs disconnect our souls from each other."

"Individual responsibility, hard work, paying attention in school, faith, family all these things are important."

"Republicans and Democrats have used accounting gimmicks and competing government analyses to deceive the public into believing that 2 + 2 = 6. If our leaders cannot agree on the numbers, if 'facts' are fictional, how can they possibly have a substantive debate on solutions?"

"In my wildest imagination, I never thought that the fifth of six children born to Helen and Buddy Watts - in a poor black neighborhood, in the poor rural community of Eufaula, Oklahoma - would someday be called Congressman."

"The absurd has meaning only in so far as it is not agreed to."

"Wonder is the foundation of all philosophy, inquiry the progress, ignorance the end."

"Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty."

"The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself."