I think everybody faces challenges in their lives. I've definitely been through it - not to the extreme that Astrid did. I try to keep some kind of identity and strength.

Academics don't normally manage to alter people's way of thinking through their strength of argument.

I am deeply concerned with the diminution of the teaching strength of the country as a result of the disproportionately low salaries that are paid to teachers throughout the country.

Machiavelli taught me it was better to be feared than loved. Because if you are loved they sense you might be weak. I am a man of the people and help them but it is important to do so through strength.

Vision is perhaps our greatest strength... it has kept us alive to the power and continuity of thought through the centuries it makes us peer into the future and lends shape to the unknown.

They say everything you go through in your childhood builds character and inner strength.

America's downgrade may serve as a wakeup call for its policymakers. It is an unambiguous and loud signal of the country's eroding economic strength and global standing. It renders urgent the need to regain the initiative through better economic policymaking and more coherent governance.

The first thing is that we're being attacked by both the Writers Guild and the Producers Guild. Both of these groups are trying to diminish the importance and strength of the director. They're trying to do it through both frontal and side attacks.

The fact that we're going through a crisis is an opportunity for Europe to be more coordinated and more integrated. We're actually talking about a European Monetary Fund or euro bonds about guarantees for countries about economic governance in the European Union. That shows the strength of Europe.

Strength is one of those things you're supposed to have. You don't feel that you have it at the time you're going through it.