The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.

For me beauty is valued more than anything - the beauty that is manifest in a curved line or in an act of creativity.

Oscar Niemeyer

There has been a lot of talk lately about the burdens of the Presidency. Decisions that the President has to make often affect the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, but that does not mean that they should take longer to make. Some men can make decisions and some cannot. Some men fret and delay under criticism. I used to have a saying that applies here, and I note that some people have picked it up, If you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Harry S Truman

Any hope that America would finally grow up vanished with the rise of fundamentalist Christianity. Fundamentalism, with its born-again regression, its pink-and-gold concept of heaven, its literal-mindedness, its rambunctious good cheer... its anti-intellectualism... its puerile hymns... and its faith-healing... are made to order for King Kid America.

Florence King

In this worldlove has no coloryet how deeply my bodyis stained by yours.

Izumi Shikibu

In Hollywood, brides keep the bouquets and throw away the groom.

Groucho Marx

The longer we go without strong leadership from the Administration and until we see significant progress in the day-to-day lives of the Iraqi people, the more difficult it will become to sustain the support of the American people and Congress for the current course.

Dennis Cardoza

The three-toed sloth lives a peaceful, vegetarian life in perfect harmony with its environment. A good-natured smile is forever on its lips...I have seen that smile with my own eyes. I am not one given to projecting human traits and emotions onto animals, but many a time during that month in Brazil, looking up at a sloth in repose, I felt I was in the presence of upside-down yogis deep in meditation or hermits deep in prayer, wise beings whose intense imaginative lives were beyond the reach of scientific probing.

Yann Martel

I have discovered nothing new, I have only perceived what I already knew.

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned that many regions of this world are suffering from the effects of armed conflicts with religious aspects. I believe that the differences of faith are not the real reason for these conflicts.

Alcee Hastings

What is the single most important quality in a tennis champion? I would have to say desire, staying in there and winning matches when you are not playing that well.

John McEnroe

Words form the sinew and muscle that hold societies upright, he argued. Consider the Koran, the Bible, the American Constitution, but also letters from fathers to sons, last wills, blessings, curses. Thousands upon thousands of words infused with the full spectrum of emotions fill in the nooks and corners of human life.

National Geographic Magazine

Honesty: what a refreshing slap in the face it is.

Timothy M. Brenner