“The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it – that’s how we learn.”

“Mainly, though, the Democratic Party has become the party of reaction. In reaction to a war that is ill conceived, we appear suspicious of all military action. In reaction to those who proclaim the market can cure all ills, we resist efforts to use market principles to tackle pressing problems. In reaction to religious overreach, we equate tolerance with secularism, and forfeit the moral language that would help infuse our policies with a larger meaning. We lose elections and hope for the courts to foil Republican plans. We lost the courts and wait for a White House scandal. And increasingly we feel the need to match the Republican right in stridency and hardball tactics. The accepted wisdom that drives many advocacy groups and Democratic activists these days goes like this: The Republican Party has been able to consistently win elections not by expanding its base but by vilifying Democrats, driving wedges into the electorate, energizing its right wing, and disciplining those who stray from the party line. If the Democrats ever want to get back into power, then they will have to take up the same approach. ...Ultimately, though, I believe any attempt by Democrats to pursue a more sharply partisan and ideological strategy misapprehends the moment we're in. I am convinced that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. For it's precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy and the sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face as a country. It's what keeps us locked in "either/or" thinking: the notion that we can have only big government or no government; the assumption that we must either tolerate forty-six million without health insurance or embrace "socialized medicine". It is such doctrinaire thinking and stark partisanship that have turned Americans off of politics. ”

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if no one is watching.”

“Achievement comes from the habit of good thinking.”

“Only God knows the future and that we are to look to Him—not to the stars or the tea leaves or the lines on the palms of our hands—for our confidence in the future.”

“Inferiority intentions are sample chapters of defeated stories... Courageous beginnings are examples of true leadership values!”

“If you are determined to achieve your dreams, you must be ready to accept and affirm positive things about yourself. Affirm positively! Say positive things and encourage yourself that you can make it.”

“Darkness had fallen upon everything for him; but just because of this darkness he felt that the one guiding clue in the darkness was his work, and he clutched it and clung to it with all his strength.”

“Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.”

“Your thoughts carry you wherever you want to go. Weak thoughts don’t have the energy to carry you far!”

“Nothing good stands without the right attitude. You may know how to do it, but if the attitude is negative, all you can say is “I could have done it”

“The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.”

“It is no accident that the words discipline and disciple resemble each other in the English language. The most common word in the Gospels for a Christian is disciple.” 

“The capacity to surmount failure without being discouraged is the chief asset of every person who attains outstanding success in any calling.”

“It is in some ways more troublesome to track and swat an evasive wasp than to shoot, at close range, a wild elephant. But the elephant is more troublesome if you miss.”