There is an urgent need for a radical revision of our current concepts of the nature of consciousness and its relationship to matter and the brain.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is 'What are you doing for others?'

I just think it would be unrealistic to suggest we're going to eliminate every last domestic insurgent in Afghanistan. Certainly the history of the country would indicate that's not a very realistic objective and I think we have to have realistic objectives.

As we get closer to the end of this Congress we should be addressing the urgent needs of the American people - the war in Iraq affordable health care a sensible energy policy quality education for our children retirement security and a sound and fair fiscal policy.

Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.

I think we have grave problems. I am very much concerned about environmental questions even though in Finnish society we are not facing the most urgent problems.

A fascinating challenge facing today's environmental movement is how to best approach the reversal of past decisions that altered once-pristine environmental spaces for the sake of urgent man-made needs.

I always thought we had an environmental problem but I hadn't realized how urgent it was. James Lovelock writes that by the end of this century there will be one billion people left.

One of the great failings of our education system is that we tend to focus on those who are succeeding in exams and there are plenty of them. But what we should also be looking at and a lot more urgently is those who fail.

To be clear climate change is a true 800 pound gorilla in the room. The effects of global warming threaten global environmental upheaval over the coming century. But for South Florida and the Everglades it could be our death knell if urgent action is not taken.