Dukakis ran without understanding that there was a Democratic Party out in the land, and he never did call on it.

We are tired of having our integrity impugned. We are tired of having our sincerity questioned. We are tired of having our intelligence insulted.

No group of our citizens can be denied the right to participate in the opportunities of first-class citizenship.

I've been ostracized before in legislative bodies for voting against the majority. That doesn't bother me.

I was just that kid in the family that you put on the table and watch it dance around, and you're like, 'Oh, look at that hyper kid!'

Respect can be as elusive as the unicorn. I know something of this because I write books that are set in the Middle Ages, and the historical novel is often seen as the unwanted stepchild in the fictional family. I know even more about respect - or the lack thereof - because I live in New Jersey.

I knew my own mother had been in the theater for a while and had taught children, because she used to teach me the pieces that she taught them, but she did much more than that.

I got agitated at the idea that racism is a Southern thing. Did you hear about the cross-burning out here? A black family moved into an upper-middle-class Los Angeles suburb and found a cross burning on their lawn. Swastikas are being painted on synagogues. I'm moving to France. I don't think this 'kinder, gentler nation' bit is working too well.