I didn't want to be the archetypal sponging brother-in-law so I didn't go into acting when I got to the States. I thought 'No I'll go to school and then I'll be an English teacher that'll be fun.' But I was horrible as a teacher. As hard as I tried I just couldn't inspire those kids to take an interest in Milton and Shakespeare and Donne.

There are ways we can go do a better job of educating young moms and dads about the vital role they have as the child's first teacher. I think there are ways in which we can partner with local school districts and states to do a better job to provide nutrition options at school.

Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.

The first condition of success for the League of Nations is therefore a firm understanding between the British Empire and the United States of America and France and Italy that there will be no competitive building up of fleets or armies between them.

In the United States there's a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries in Catholic countries a successful person is a sinner.

The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.

I admire President Chavez for his strength to resist the United States. Instead Bush is waging a war of terrorism against the world.

We should believe in the strength and vitality of the values which constitute the E.U. and which neighbouring states can believe in and aspire to join.

The single currency should allow the European Union and therefore France to balance its monetary strength with the United States. It should help us adjust to the development of China.

I still believe in the possibility of the United States with all its will and all its strength and I don't just mean military persevering against any challenge. I still believe in that.

As much as I value an union of all the states I would not admit the southern states into the union unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.

So Europe needs to be competitive and we also need to be competitive if we wish to remain an interesting economic partner for the United States. This has to be done on the basis of strength of competitiveness.

The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.

Unlike any other business in the United States sports must preserve an illusion of perfect innocence.

In the States tennis is sixth or seventh on the totem pole as far as sports go.

People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected.

That's the biggest problem with boxing in the United States. They do not promote it like they used to when it used to be Howard Cosell and they showed it on 'Wide World of Sports.' Everybody knew all the fighters. Everybody was looking forward to the year when the Olympics came on.

Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972 with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.

Black people dominate sports in the United States. 20% of the population and 90% of the final four.

In emerging democracies like Russia in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies.

What does Burma have to give the United States? We can give you the opportunity to engage with people who are ready and willing to change a society.

You can't have a United States if you are telling some folks that they can't get on the train. There is a cracking point where a society collapses.

All the United States it is a society that is split like to the bottom that had very poor people in the country that is one of the wealthiest countries.

Math and science fields are not the only areas where we see the United States lagging behind. Less than 1 percent of American high school students study the critical foreign languages of Arabic Chinese Japanese Korean or Russian combined.