My incarceration was actually a positive thing from the beginning. I needed a gimmick to get my act going again it gave me material.

I was in the room with you know more than a dozen Republicans trying to negotiate the stimulus. Most of them decided the politics of the situation meant they should walk away even if it wasn't responsible in terms of what our country needed right then.

I guess I wanted to leave America for awhile. It wasn't that I wanted to become an expatriate or just never come back I needed some breathing room. I'd already been translating French poetry I'd been to Paris once before and liked it very much and so I just went.

Traditional matter must be glorified since it would be easier to listen to the re-creation of familiar stories than to quite new and unexpected things the listeners we must remember needed poetry chiefly as the re-creation of tired hours.

We read Robert Browning's poetry. Here we needed no guidance from the professor: the poems themselves were enough.

I wish the Peace Corps and its volunteers continued success and perseverance. We are grateful for their contributions to society and dedication to providing assistance where it is needed. May the Peace Corps continue its legacy of service both at home and abroad.

Malcolm X made me very strong at a time I needed to understand what I was angry about. He had peace in his heart. He exerted a big influence on me.

I came to the conclusion that in order to end racial barriers I needed to run for the office of the president and put forth an agenda of social justice and world peace. In addition I concluded that someone needed to run and challenge the liberal orthodoxy.

As a young boy I read 'Cheaper by the Dozen' and immediately became neurotic about my use of time. It taxed me severely but only for the next 50 years. But I think it also allowed me to discipline myself to sit in the chair and be a writer where one of the most needed qualities is patience.

A new father quickly learns that his child invariably comes to the bathroom at precisely the times when he's in there as if he needed company. The only way for this father to be certain of bathroom privacy is to shave at the gas station.