“If you’re away from your house for a month, by the time you come back there’s someone else living in it.”

I’m afraid that the United States is more isolated today than at any other time in my memory.

If Iraq were to descend into chaos, the Europeans would feel the effects just as much as we would.

Love the people you think you’d want to be with in the hereafter.

To be different you must strive to be what no one else but you can be. Don’t be so concerned with the opinions of others; those who follow the quiet, creative voice from within are both fortunate and correct.

America has never seen itself as a national state like all others, but rather as an experiment in human freedom and democracy.

If universities want to save a little money, they ought to make some cutbacks in administration and in faculty people who teach one class a week.

If you look back at the first Gulf war, the Arabs sent forces, they sent money. So their interests in Iraq are clear, but they’re nowhere to be seen now. Why? Because right now, it’s dangerous to be seen as supporting the United States.

But the central point is that any campaign against Iraq, whatever the strategy, cost and risks, is certain to divert us for some indefinite period from our war on terrorism.

Russia right now is searching for its soul. It’s trying to figure out what it really is.

I came back to New York after college like any number of struggling performers, and you just find that niche where you can have some sort of impact. And for me that turned out to be comedy.

…there is no more effective public interest watchdog in Washington, D.C.

Democracy doesn’t just consist of holding elections.

My mother told me I was dancing before I was born. She could feel my toes tapping wildly inside her for months.

That is so personal, and it’s my pet peeve when people press you on it. And it’s always women who get asked! Is anybody saying that to George Clooney?

The world is all the richer for having a devil in it, so long as we keep our foot upon his neck.

After all, we didn’t bring democracy to Germany in 1945; Hitler destroyed democracy there first.

We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war. A new era is upon us.

It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities you have right now, and right now we’re in a position where you call somebody and they’re willing to pick up and take the call because they’re a fan, you have to take advantage of that and have a chance to capitalize on your ideas.

Remarrying a husband you’ve divorced is like having your appendix put back in.

I’m at an age when my back goes out more than I do.

Love is fine for singing about and love songs are good to listen to, sometimes even to dance to. But when we need food for our stomachs and clothes for our backs, love is nothing. Ah my lady, the last man any woman should think of marrying is the man she loves.

No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash: your picture in the paper nor money in the back either. Just refuse to bear them.

I fell so many times and got back up. I been through the toughest times with my family, but I’m still standing.

I’m going back to the old Shaq. I was normal last year – I was an earthling last summer. I had to go back to my alien roots.