History is nothing if not an epic tale of missed opportunities.

Conservatives define themselves more by their hatred of liberals than anything else, and, conversely, liberals by their distaste for conservatives.

It's no surprise that the Bush administration's bullying swagger and blithe ignorance have caused much of the Muslim world to hold the U.S. in rock-bottom regard.

It could fairly be said that the U.S. is increasingly out of step with the rest of the world. As our neighbors to the south elect left-wing or even socialist governments, we are lurching further to the right. As Europe becomes less engaged to the Church, we are becoming more fundamentalist.

'Green' does not have to mean the sort of hair-shirt, wood-burning-stove sensibility of the '70s. Green can and should be sleek and modern.

Former vice president Al Gore has devoted his post-administration years to a mission to tell the world about global warming. It's funny, but in his civilian life Gore has discovered the voice that voters had trouble hearing when he ran for president in 2000. The voice he has found is clear, impassioned, and moving.

I don't think you can be a credible, modern candidate for president without making the environment a major part of your platform.

In 2004, I wrote 'What We've Lost,' a book about the Bush administration. It sold only reasonably well, in part, I think, because the book was a horrific downer, an unrelenting account of the administration's actions, bungles, deceptions, half-truths, untruths, and downright corruptions.

It could fairly be said that America, during the Bush years, has entered an Age of Denial - arguably the first stage of a nation's decline.

Water-boarding can result in damage to the lungs and the brain, as well as long-term psychological trauma.

To a young kid growing up in Canada, America seemed to be crazy about the future; dazzled by it.

After the collapse of Wall Street in the 1920s, the culture stopped being all about money, and the country survived and ultimately flourished.

In this age of 24-7 headlines, the term 'newsweekly' seems almost quaint.

Branding experts believe that just because they have rethought a company's image or name, the rest of us will automatically fall in line.

Everything I love about America is fragile.

Every minute you invest in kids you get back four times over.

Stationery is addictive. I get mine made in Paris at Benetton, and writing on it gives me a strange thrill.

As you get older and fatter, good clothes can hide a lot.

Hatred for Obama... has more to do with race than anything else.

My suggestion to newspapers everywhere is to give the public a reason to read them again. So here's an idea: get on a big story with widespread public appeal, devote your best resources to it, say a quiet prayer, and swing for the fences.

I actually don't know how magazines are produced, I'll be honest with you. I have no idea.

War is a form of really bad manners, in a strange way. Invading a country I think is just the worst possible manners. 'You're not invited!' Gate crashing on a large scale!

You have to give kids something to rebel against. You can't like their music - you have to call it noise. It's incumbent on a parent.

To discuss a Martin Amis book, you must first discuss the orchestrated release of a Martin Amis book. In London, which rightly prides itself on the vibrancy of its literary cottage industry, Amis is the Steve Jobs of book promoters, and his product rollouts are as carefully managed as anything Apple dreams up.

There is no 'them' and 'us.' There is only us.

You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear.

Don't forget, you are the hero of your own story.

You are so much more than the worst thing you've ever done.

Even gang members imagine a future that doesn't include gangs.

You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you.

You can't reason with gang violence: you can't talk to it, sit it at the table, and negotiate with it.

Abject poverty, political instability, torture, and other abuses push thousands across our border. There is not a deterrent imaginable that equals the conditions that force their migration.

I wouldn't trade my life for anybody's.

God can get tiny if we're not careful.

Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.

People have to see that there is a high degree of complexity about belonging to a gang. It's a symptom, not a problem.

My job isn't to fix or rescue or to save. It's to accompany, see people, listen to them.

In Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world, we have 1,100 gangs and 120,000 gang members so it is a daunting, complex social dilemma.

If you are paying attention, then the day is going to be pretty joyful, and a lot of delight will fill it.

The employer is not going to choose the gang member who's just been released from prison: they're going to choose the person with the skills.

Kids are different from adults. They are not as developed as far as brain science, controlling impulses, and maturity, and fall prey to all kinds of pressures.

The desire of God's heart is immeasurably larger than our imaginations can conjure.

I always have a funny story at communion time that underscores that no one is perfect, and that communion is not for perfect people but for hungry people.

Like the suffering child, gang members act out of their despair, and their actions are all the more alarming now for our not having heeded their cry long ago. The shortsighted neglect that keeps us locked up in our outrage has also kept us from viable solutions.

Reactive and proactive policing are both necessary. Still, we need to lower expectations that such efforts can ever be responsive to crime.

No kid is seeking anything when he joins a gang; he's always fleeing something. He's not being pulled; he's being pushed by the circumstances in which he finds himself.

The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives.

What do we know to be true about gang violence? We know we will fail if we fixate on the symptoms and not address what undergirds it.

I have never seen a hopeful person join a gang.

I work with gang members, and I feel a kind of affinity and gift, even. But who would've thunk it, you know? I mean, I didn't anticipate it.