I don't think I see the world in terms of stupid or clever, but in terms of being able to get irony. There's some awful statistic about only 20 per cent of Americans being able to understand irony.
I think that a failure of statistical thinking is the major intellectual shortcoming of our universities, journalism and intellectual culture.
I think I've read all of W.E.B. Du Bois, which is a lot. He started off with comprehensive field work in Philadelphia, publishing a book in 1899 called 'The Philadelphia Negro'. It was this wonderful combination of clear statistical data and ethnographic data.
I don't see any justification for the federal government owning land, other than the Statue of Liberty and maybe a few parks, maybe a few refuges. But to just own land to do nothing with it I think is a disservice to the Constitution.
Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.
You want to leave something; you really do. I mean, in the end, statues and all those things, that doesn't mean anything. Leave something that we're all going to benefit from. I think that's what I'd like to do.
I think I have a superior brain and an inferior stature, if you really want to get brutal about it.
Is the U.S. better or is the world better? Is the U.S. better off today than we were four years ago? Obviously not, economically not. I think our stature in the world is not the same.
I think the inner strength that I have helps me stay calm.
We got ratings. It isn't that they won't quarrel with you, or say you're always right. But as long as you stay strong and the ratings are good and you're reasonable - I don't think we fought unreasonably. We basically won that right.
I think I would make a lousy stay-at-home mom. It just wouldn't suit me.
Success doesn't scare us. I think we have staying power.
I think the most important thing is to keep active and to hope that your mind stays active.
I've decided to lead in a way that takes people with me. It's the approach that I think will stand not only our party but also our state in good stead.
Maybe I'm flattering myself, but I think my view of humanity has got steadily sunnier since I was 15. I have a higher opinion of politicians, for instance, than I did when I first moved to Washington.
I don't think I know anyone who has a steady job in Montreal.
I think what my hope is is that the only downside of having a steady job on television is, I think for all actors, there's a piece, there's some adrenaline, and part of the love of the job is not knowing what's coming next, and the variety.
Most big companies work in stealth until they think they have a consumer product ready to go.
I think there is this steely strength beneath this beautiful veneer that a lot of women possess. I can't fathom or understand it.
My parents brought us up in a very clever way, which was that they saw what we were interested in naturally, and then they encouraged whatever that may be. When I started sharing a keen interest in drama and the theater, instead of steering me away from it, they encouraged me to see plays and think about drama school.
