"The first books I was interested in were all about baseball. But I can't think of one single book that changed my life in any way."

"You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars."

"The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines."

"When I was a little boy I used to borrow my father's hat, and make a press card to stick in the hat band. That was the way reporters were always portrayed in the movies."

"He who seeks peace must remember that every step forward is a victory over stagnation."

"A quiet mind perceives the subtle truths that noisy ambitions constantly drown out. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"We would all like to vote for the best man but he is never a candidate."

"Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it."