“The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness.”

Punishment is not prevention. History offers cold comfort to those who think grievance and despair can be subdued by force.

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

You’re happiest while you’re making the greatest contribution.

Some men see what is, and ask ‘Why?’ I see what might be, and ask ‘Why Not?’

Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was prohibited.

Every time you stand up for an ideal, you send forth a tiny ripple of hope.

Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.

It is immoral to see evil and not act on it.

The essential humanity of men can be protected and preserved only where government must answer, not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, or a particular race, but to all its people.

We can master change not though force or fear, but only though the free work of an understanding mind, though an openness to new knowledge and fresh outlooks, which can only strengthen the most fragile and most powerful of human gifts: the gift of reason.

What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr’s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin’s bullet.

In your hands lies the future of your world and the fulfilment of the best qualities of your own spirit.

The future does not belong to those who are content with today Rather, it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason, and courage in a personal commitment.

If you never quit, youll never fail.

I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.

Together, we can make ourselves a nation that spends more on books than on bombs, more on hospitals than the terrible tools of war, more on decent houses than military aircraft.

I actually get a lot of messages with people saying, ‘What’s a Marvin Gaye?’ and, I mean… Oh, wow. I must be getting old, because someone who was born in 2004 just asked me what a Marvin Gaye was.

Kids are a huge sacrifice; they change everything – but I’m ready to work for things of greater importance than going out to meet someone for dinner at 10 o’clock at night.

My mum was too busy raising four of us to encourage my hopes. But I’m glad I had the upbringing I did. It made me a worrier and a thoughtful, curious person.

This is one thing they forget to mention in most child-rearing books, that at times you will just lose your mind. Period.

We learn our belief systems as very little children, and then we move through life creating experiences to match our beliefs. Look back in your own life and notice how often you have gone through the same experience.

Nothing heals us like letting people know our scariest parts: When people listen to you cry and lament, and look at you with love, it’s like they are holding the baby of you.

To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation – is that good for the world?

My parents elected me president of the family when I was 4. We actually had an election every year and I always won. I’m an only child, and I could count on my mother’s vote.