America's reputation is based on its ability to deliver the world big, Earth-changing solutions.

With every new class of representatives that comes to Congress, there is a greater recognition of the perils of private financing of campaigns. I believe that by pulling back the curtain on the daily pressures faced by members of Congress, we can show the public how critical this reform is to the salvation of our democracy.

Most elected officials don't want you to know about the world of political fundraising because they fear that it paints an unflattering portrait of public life.

The NRA has become financially dependent on more and more guns being sold - especially the expensive ones. In turn, the NRA has stated that its top legislative priority is to protect gun makers by advocating for legislation that benefits them.

Washington is agonizingly slow at learning from its mistakes. Especially in the Middle East.

I'm generally pretty responsible and diligent, but people make mistakes.

I ran in 2006 as an opponent of the Iraq War, and I came to Congress to change overreliance on U.S. military power.

Yemen is a symbol of our continued military hubris in the Middle East - an addiction Obama was supposed to cure but didn't.

I can't throw a nickel from the Capitol without hitting a think tank that's been financed by one of the Gulf States.

If you were a Democrat getting ready to run for office in the 2000s, as I was, you were told to stay clear of guns... I really regret that. I regret having listened to that advice.

I play in the congressional baseball game.

I used to play lots of sports. I used to be a good tennis player. I used to be a decent golfer.

I grew up in a pretty economically safe, physically safe household, and, you know, now my life is defined by other people's trauma and by other people's emotional experience with it, and I think I'm richer for that, frankly.

Background checks applied universally and nationally would take millions of illegal guns off the streets of our cities.

I would respectfully disagree that the right to own a military-style weapon is a God-given right. I didn't see that anywhere in the Bible that I read.

People should remember that in the 2000s, the gun lobby got a lot passed: they got riders added to appropriations bills. They got immunity for the gun industry. They successfully managed the expiration of the assault weapons ban.

You can only explain America's gun violence problem through guns, because mental illness doesn't automatically lead to violence, and it doesn't lead to violence anywhere else but America.

The tweets that I send out are not written by somebody else. They're not vetted through my communications staff.

More Democrats should be speaking without vetting their statements through their staff because it will feel realer.

I do not understand how people can look at the rapid spread of extremism all across the globe and not understand that it is - that it isn't coincidental to the concurrent rapid spread of a very conservative strain of Islam that is paid for out of Saudi Arabia.

In Syria, a progressive foreign policy would have shown military restraint while pumping up our ability to gain political leverage over Syria's benefactors and providing humanitarian funding to make sure that anybody that wanted to leave Syria could.

I think when you have so many people working for American-based think tanks and American-based defense companies, there is always going to be a bent towards proposing American-led solutions for foreign problems. People get paid big money in Washington to come up with ways that America can fix problems overseas, and they are not always right.

Ultimately, stability in Syria will come from decisions made on the ground by the Syrian people and by their immediate neighbors.

It's a wonderful story for the gun lobby to tell that if you just load up schools with weapons, you'll be safer. All of the evidence suggests that homes and communities that have more weapons have more gun crimes, not less.

I think Donald Trump believes in putting a wall around America and hoping everything turns out OK.

American values don't begin and end with destroyers and aircraft carriers.

I think progressives understand that we are Americans at the same time as we are global citizens. We are interested first and foremost in creating peace and prosperity here at home, but we aren't blind to the fact that injustice anywhere in the world is meaningful, important, and worth thinking about.

I have gone from a proponent of campaign finance reform to a revolutionary during my time in public service.

We have a cleaner system of government in this state where people run based on their ideas, not based on their ability to raise money.

The skill of telemarketing does not necessarily translate into governing.

You can just assume that better law enforcement response is going to quell the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

I don't require a background check to contribute to my campaign. And so there are probably lots of people with unsavory backgrounds and pasts who have given to both Democrats and Republicans.

America's strength in the past has been our ability to bring family members to join other family members in the United States and to look at skills but not have it be the only determination of how you get here.

Life flies by, and it's easy to get lost in the blur. In adolescence, it's 'How do I fit in?' In your 20s, it's 'What do I want to do?' In your 30s, 'Is this what I'm meant to do?' I think the trick is living the questions. Not worrying so much about what's ahead but rather sitting in the grey area - being OK with where you are.

The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don't have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it.

I like kind of natural, woodsy earth tones. I like patchouli. I like tobacco. I like sandalwood. I like tree resin. I'm not a huge fan of citrus - I like things that are kind of moodier and... more deeper base notes.

I believe in luck and fate and I believe in karma, that the energy you put out in the world comes back to meet you.

Uh, I do not wear a wig in 'Star Trek' like I did in 'Bottle Shock,' thank God. 'Bottle Shock' will be the last wig movie I ever do.

I'm enjoying the aging process and the gray hair and the wrinkles.

For me, fragrances are very - one of these beautiful art forms that bring about a whole host of things. It's what you want to smell like, it's memories that make you smile or are resonant of times in your life, it can remind you of music. If you're a lover of scent, it's a very kind of particular and evocative thing.

There are going to be good times and bad times, but lighten up.

Critics think we try to make bad films. They think we want to spend five months of our lives making something bad. We always go out with the best of intentions, whether it's fluffy comedy or a drama.

What am I going to tweet about? My sneakers?

The more you are positive and say, 'I want to have a good life,' the more you build that reality for yourself by creating the life that you want.

After many years of self-flagellation, I've realised that beating myself up doesn't get me anywhere.

You either listen to the naysayers and fall into the pit of self-loathing, or you stay on the path and move forward.

The mythic journey is always about selflessness.

I think the great thing about the Jack Ryan films is that the plot and the story always take center stage. If you've done your job as the actor portraying Jack Ryan, you are present enough to make an impact, but you let the story shine.

If I had let myself off the hook in college, I could have enjoyed myself a lot more. Knowing that I can't have those years back, I have learned to get the most out of living in the now.

I think the western is about people in harsh places trying to tame an unfriendly wilderness. Because life is defined by struggle, it's kind of the perfect microcosmic experience to explore that. 'Here we are, struggling.' It's about people persevering and persevering and persevering.