Cory Booker

Don't give in to cynicism. It is a toxic spiritual state. ”

I was raised in a very religious home with two parents who were deeply involved in the black church. When I was young, I went to a small black AME church in New Jersey. ”

When I was just a twenty-something, I came to Newark, and I found a connection to the city in a spiritual way. I found a connection here and people here that reminded me so much of my roots and my own family. ”

The change we seek for our nation is not the choice of an individual but must be the calling of a country. ”

The beauty of having your ego checked as many times as my ego was checked in Newark made me recognize how much I needed other people who were very different than me in order to get big things done. ”

The greatest natural resource our country has is not oil. It's not gas. It's not coal. It's the genius of our children. ”

If we're concerned about climate change as a country, we should have policies that make sure our great-grandchildren have a planet that's healthy and strong. ”

If we want a great nation, we have to change it ourselves. ”

I just know that I'm innovative. I'm a quick thinker... In Washington, I just want to be a senator who finds a way to drive change and not figure out a way to conform. ”

A more courageous empathy is needed in our country to see the struggles of people from factory towns to farm towns to city towns who can't even afford the rent in their cities anymore because costs are going so high. ”