“The test of a government is not how popular it is with the powerful and privileged few but how honestly and fairly it deals with the many who must depend on it.”

One of the most serious problems that our country has inherited an unwillingness to talk to anyone who disagrees with us or who won’t accept, before a discussion, all the premises that we demand.

The abuse of women and girls is the most pervasive and unaddressed human right violation on earth.

This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. It is widespread. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths.

I’ve never won an argument with my wife; and the only time I thought I had I found out the argument wasn’t over yet.

And so I say to you and to others around the world, whether they wish us well or ill – do not underestimate us Americans. We lack neither strength nor wisdom.

The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

Every advance in this half-century-Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another-came with the support and leadership of American Labor.

We are of course a nation of differences. Those differences don’t make us weak. They’re the source of our strength.

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.

We all have patterned ways of dealing with anxiety that are often set up in our first families. Understanding how and why can set us free.⁣⁣

Love should be treated like a business deal, but every business deal has its own terms and its own currency. And in love, the currency is virtue.

The thing that matters is not what you bear, but how you bear it.

Politicians are making deals for their benefit. Now we are going to make the deals for the American people.

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

I can’t deal with someone wanting to take a relationship backward or needing space or cheating on you.

Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.

To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.