“Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but rather by what one owns.”

I’m not in favor of the government mandating a prayer in school because our country was founded on the fact that no particular religious faith would have ascendance over or preferential treatment over any other.

A fundamentalist can’t bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality.

You can not divorce religious belief and public service. I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.

Throughout my life, I’ve seen the difference that volunteering efforts can make in people’s lives. I know the personal value of service as a local volunteer.

It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.

Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.

All I want is the same thing you want. To have a nation with a government that is as good and honest and decent and competent and compassionate and as filled with love as are the American people.

What are the things that you can’t see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love…They’re the guiding lights of a life.

God always answers prayers. Sometimes it’s ‘yes.’ Sometimes the answer is ‘no.’ Sometimes it’s ‘you gotta be kidding.

I believe that the boycott that we have against Cuba is counterproductive, and it also makes the twelve million or so Cuban people suffer unnecessarily just because of a foolish policy of the United States.

We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.

Spirit is like the wind, in that we can’t see it but can see its effects, which are profound.

Trust is very much a part of our democracy.

Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption.

We’ve got to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.

Go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.

I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person.

Idiots must stop claiming that atheism is a religion. Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power. And atheism is… precisely not that. Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.

It’s very easy to leave when things go wrong, but to stick around and to basically give life to a town because of everything that it gave you generation after generation after generation, that to me is what defines a true American.

It’s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.

Laughter appears to stand in need of an echo, Listen to it carefully: it is not an articulate, clear, well-defined sound; it is something which would fain be prolonged by reverberating from one to another.

I know definitive points in my life and in relationships because of my songs. I write my music so that I’ll never be bored of it.

If you dont love, youve lost your distinction, definition, uniqueness, and identity.

It’s interesting how people try to redefine God to their liking. They bring him down to their level so they can understand him, then they reject him because he is too much like them.