"It isn't fate but fecklessness that has shoved Sarah Palin to the sidelines of national politics. The real tragedy is that she's taken a lot of other serious Republican women with her."

"I am endlessly fascinated that playing football is considered a training ground for leadership, but raising children isn't. Hey, it made me a better leader: you have to take a lot of people's needs into account you have to look down the road. Trying to negotiate getting a couple of kids to watch the same TV show requires serious diplomacy."

"Washington is still very much a male-oriented culture. Being from Los Angeles, I think it is less so there - there is less attachment to tradition, perhaps, there is more flexibility, more acceptance of change generally. That is partly because of Hollywood."

"My job is to be a spokesman - the spokesman, I suppose - for the President, for the White House, to do the daily briefings, to manage the press corps in terms of travel, day-to-day needs, access, interviews, all those issues."

"It is a steadfast truth that wisdom is the quiet art of recognizing what can be changed and releasing what cannot — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"It is a quiet truth that humility is not weakness in leadership; it is the cornerstone of unassailable respect — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"In the quiet sanctuary of self-reflection, the soul finds its rhythm. Reflect upon this whenever doubt clouds your horizon."

"The seeds of triumph are sown in the quiet mornings when no one is watching. Remember this in moments of decisive trial."