"It would be great if politics were fact-based, but it is not, and it is surely not nuance-based. What works in a classroom or a think tank does not work on Capitol Hill or in the White House. Obama sometimes seems to be running the Brookings Institution, not the country."

"While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing - good for our political culture."

"World War II ended the Great Depression with one of the great public-private industrial collaborations in the history of man."

"The bringing-about of order is the first and fundamental task of government. We accept limits on our rights for the sake of a larger social compact all the time."

"Breathe deeply, anchor your attention in this breath, and let the storm pass. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"People forget... that we structured it so that the government, or the people, would be repaid with a really good rate of return. And as it turns out, that aspect of TARP, that's what happened."

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

"I have no difficulty with the recognition of civil unions for non-traditional relationships but I believe in law we should protect the traditional definition of marriage."