So there was a fire inside me. And that fire inside you it can be turned into a negative form or a positive form. And I gradually realised that I had this fire and that it had to be used in a positive way.

No matter what you're going through there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things.

Politics was my third act. But I could have a fourth. I don't know what that will be yet but there will be one.

There is this concept of politics as a dirty game. It's a difficult game but it doesn't have to be dirty. I think this is what we need to bring to politics. I think politics around the world has very often been captured by big interests - 'lobbies' they call them in the States.

There was a widespread indignation in the American media. They were saying 'How can you make a movie during an election that's about politics? What are you doing? Are you trying to influence people's lives?' To which my response was 'Well I hope so.'

The thing about American politics as I've learned is there is no choice.

We don't tend to write about disease in fiction - not just teen novels but all American novels - because it doesn't fit in with our idea of the heroic romantic epic. There is room only for sacrifice heroism war politics and family struggle.

Whether you are on the Right or the Left everyone can agree that there are a lot of outside influences in American politics that are not good for the system. There's just too much money.

We talked about politics constantly in my family growing up in North Carolina. There were always debates. Being of Greek background it's in our blood to drink coffee and talk politics.

There has been a shift to what may be defined as a culture of negativity which goes well beyond coverage of politics.

If one of my boys was asking me if they should go into politics I'd say there's only one reason to go into public life and that's to help people.

In politics there are no friends.

I always wanted to work at 'Take A Break' magazine you know just to inject a little bit of politics into their stories. I applied for a job there after I'd done my law degree and didn't even get an interview. I only wrote 'Garnethill' because I didn't get that job!

I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society any film that deals with humanity is necessarily political.

You know I started my career in politics in 1967. I'm not new to this. I did not just fall off the Christmas tree. I understand the world is complex. I know that there are people out there who want to hurt other people.

I think one of the most threatening places to be in politics is a black conservative because there are so many liberals who want to continue to reinforce a stereotype that doesn't exist about America.

There's people coming in who've never done any politics at all who've never been in a trade union they've never been in a political party they've never done anything but they do feel a kind of urgency.

There's a rule of thumb in politics. If you're at a point where you're complaining about the other guy being mean and unfair and uncivil that's probably a sign that you're losing.

Things happen in American politics in the political center. If the President will meet us in the center there are things we can accomplish.

There's a couple things you don't talk about in life and that's race religion and politics. I try to make sure I don't talk about politics at all.

I don't for the life of me understand how anybody could contemplate the results of the 2000 election in the US and say that electoral politics doesn't matter any more and that Ralph Nader was right when he said there is no difference between the two parties.

The only reason to be in politics is public service. There's no other reason. Frankly if that's the best job you can get in terms of money that's too bad you know. Because frankly it's not well paid everyone knows that. So for most people it's a big sacrifice.

It is our job above all in politics to tackle the big issues and to explain them and have the honesty to say to people 'There are no easy solutions here.'

There's a nastiness out there that wants to harm me with words. These are my enemies - the ideologues the populists the columnists who don't like the fact that I take them on toe-to-toe. What I try to do is tell the truth. It's not the coin of the realm in politics.