My work is the only ground I've ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation but I'm working on the foundation.

Four years ago I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan and in 2014 our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.

Justice and truth are too such subtle points that our tools are too blunt to touch them accurately.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

I guess I don't like the people in politics very much to be blunt.

I should just put it bluntly because we're all sort of friends here now - it's exceedingly likely that my greatest success is behind me. Oh so Jesus what a thought! You know that's the kind of thought that could lead a person to start drinking gin at nine o'clock in the morning and I don't want to go there.

Mom spent the time that she was supposed to be a kid actully raising children her younger brother and younger sister. She was tough as nails and did not suffer fools at all. And the truth was she could not afford to. She spoke the truth bluntly directly and without much varnish. I am her son.

Health care costs blunt the competitive edge of American entrepreneurs from the auto industry to internet start-ups.

For some Chicago expats food is the medicine that blunts the pain of separation.

Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.