“My professional life has been about public service. My personal life I define very intently through my family.”

Going back to high school and college, I believed I would be involved in public service. I literally could not conceptualize anything else.

Not only do they offend thee, O Lady, who outrage thee, but thou art also offended by those who neglect to ask thy favors … He who neglects the service of the Blessed Virgin will die in his sins … He who does not invoke thee, O Lady, will never get to Heaven …

Forgiveness is, first of ali, a gift I give myself.

I love the MLB app, because I’m a pretty obsessed baseball fan.

We do not ask more of the wealthy to punish success. We do it to create more success stories.

I’ve always had a very positive relationship with the municipal labor unions – a respectful relationship.

We are New Yorkers. Proud citizens of the greatest city on earth. Thinking big isn’t new to us. It is the very foundation of who we are.

I believe there’s an emerging American majority for progressive economic change.

A holistic solution to income inequality is going to take a lot of work, but every time you prove that one of the strands is achievable and that it has a positive impact on people’s lives you take another step towards proving the bigger theory of the case.

I think a lot of the best ideas come from the grassroots; I’m someone who does not like a bunker mentality and does not like groupthink.

I think like a lot of people in this country I want to see a vision. And, again, that would be true of candidates on all levels. It’s time to see a clear, bold vision for progressive economic change.

NY is the city it is today in part because of the contributions from generations of artistic visionaries

I haven’t smoked marijuana since I was at NYU.

There is nothing wrong with listening. You can listen to people; you can hear people’s concerns. You can keep an open mind and still be perfectly strong.

My parents were divorced when I was young. I was really brought up by my mother’s side of the family.

While this has been a private part of my family’s life, it is now clear a media story will soon emerge. My father tragically ended his life while battling terminal cancer in 1979.

The religion is a personal thing in my life and fighting in the ring, it’s boxing. It’s my profession. God always gives me strength.

Success is what you envisage it to be. You have to go into any profession knowing what you want because people will place expectations on you and their idea of success could taint yours.

It’s not always the case that Muslims have been theocrats.

My mother cleaned homes and drove school buses, and when my family was on the brink of foreclosure… I started bartending and waitressing.

Even though I’m a pop singer, I really have more the life of a country singer.

I think teaching should be an exalted profession, not a picked-on profession.

A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by encouraging a clever pupil, for the true discovers are among them, as comets amongst the stars.

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent.