"I am willing to compete on my merits and on my character - not with the color of my skin. We talk about being a color-blind society, but I don't think the political process could actually handle that."

"In 1989 when I switched from Democrat to Republican, with God as my witness, not one thing changed about what I believed about one man and one woman in a marriage or about diversity of color. That's a good thing."

"There's a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports."

"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."

"Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one's own goodness."

"Nearly all monster stories depend for their success on Jack killing the Giant, Beowulf or St. George slaying the Dragon, Harry Potter triumphing over the basilisk. That is their inner grammar, and the whole shape of the story leads towards it."

"For so many years, I felt so insecure, so inferior, and I still have those moments, but I have a newfound confidence since I got in shape and changed my diet."

"If your faith is opposed to experience, to human learning and investigation, it is not worth the breath used in giving it expression."