“The impression that you are a demigod worried me. I wanted to be like an ordinary human being with virtues and vices.”

A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere.

Exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.

Hope is a powerful weapon, and no one power on earth can deprive you of.

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.

There is nothing more dangerous than a humiliated man.

You can start changing our world for the better daily, no matter how small the action.

One of the most difficult things is not to change society – but to change yourself.

Freedom can never be taken for granted.

There is no future without forgiveness.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.

Lead from the back – and let others believe they are in front.

Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.

It is not the kings and generals that make history, but the masses of the people.

As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

I always compare marriage to communism. They’re both institutions that don’t conform to human nature, so you’re going to end up with lying and hypocrisy.

Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.

If conservatives get to call universal healthcare ‘socialized medicine,’ I get to call private, for-profit healthcare ‘soulless, vampire bastards making money off human pain.’

Inability, human incapacity, is the only boundary to an art.

But separate a man from his car – that’s inhuman.

Nelson Mandela, a better man, not a bitter man, made our world a better place in which to live. His life and leadership exemplify the highest courage, dignity, and dedication to human liberation.

It is shameful and inhuman to treat men like chattels to make money by, or to regard them merely as so much muscle or physical power.

You cannot believe in peace at home and not believe in international peace. A war with Iraq will increase anti-American sentiment, create more terrorists, and drain as much as 200 billion taxpayer dollars, which should be invested in human development here in America.