My mom, my aunt, and my grandma banded together and gave me a village of support when I was growing up.

Growing up, when I'd throw out the trash, I'd toss it and dart because all the cats would come running. That's why I still don't like cats.

Growing up in Stockton wasn't all doom and gloom.

Growing up, I read all three of Frederick Douglass' autobiographies by the time I was 12.

You don't grow the economy by growing government.

But, you know, once you're in government, very often you need to shoulder responsibility. I hope the new Spanish government will think about this and will therefore act accordingly. I really and sincerely hope so.

I got to be White House chief of staff, ten years of congressman, secretary of defense, vice-president. If you're a political junkie like I obviously am - that was - every one of those was just a tremendous experience. I'm very comfortable with what I did and why I did it and how I did it. And I'll let others judge whether they liked it or not.

Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.