"That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time."

"Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance."

"To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it: the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary."

"To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread."

"To conquer fear is to realize that the bonds of friendship are the true treasures of existence."

"I force people to have coffee with me, just because I don't trust that a friendship can be maintained without any other senses besides a computer or cellphone screen."

"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."

"If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love."