There's a smartphone gait: the slow sidewalk weave that comes from being lost in conversation rather than looking where you're going.

We are bombarded with reasons to stay inside: we're afraid of mosquitoes because of West Nile and grass because of pesticides and sun because of cancer and sunscreen because of vitamin-D deficiency.

Inflicting emotional distress has typically been treated as a civil action. How 'substantial' does the distress have to be for it to turn criminal?

The Catholic Church is one of the oldest, largest and richest institutions on earth, with a following 1.2 billion strong, and change does not come naturally.

I'm sentimental about many things: the lumpy feel of a baby's unused feet, the metallic smell of the air before the first snow, the last scene in 'It's a Wonderful Life.' But Valentine's Day leaves me cold.

It's no secret that the media has fragmented in recent years, that audiences have been cut into slivers, and that more and more people get their news from ever narrower outlets.

Sometimes justice is at its most merciful when it's blind.

When I was coming out of college, storytelling was very much something you did with pencil and paper, so the technological platform versatility, I think, is really valuable.

I live in a dumb house. Which is not to say that I don't love its quirky charm, its drafty windows and leaky fireplaces and an electrical system that protests when too many people are trying to vacuum and microwave at the same time. But charm is not always user-friendly.

You can't hold up a blog; you can hold up a magazine.

I would like to see every newspaper and every magazine have a network of bureaus all over the world, gathering news.

What is it about summer that makes children grow? We feed and water them more. They do get more sun, but that probably doesn't matter as much as the book they read or the rule they broke that taught them something they couldn't have learned any other way.

Twenty-first century war adds new risks: more and more often there are no front lines, no central command, no rules of engagement - only a chaotic collision of politics, power, faith and bloodlust. Victims are as likely to be civilians as soldiers.

We want laws to be applied predictably.

But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

Don't underestimate your opponent, but don't overestimate them, either.

I really want women to know their power, to value their experience. To understand that nothing has been more wholesome in the political process than the increased involvement of women.

Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.

We have so much room for improvement. Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory... of how we are taking responsibility.

We in Congress stand by Israel. In Congress, we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel.

Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to promote policies that produce jobs and economic growth, and to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

If I cry, it's about the personal loss of a friend or something like that. But when it comes to politics - no, I don't cry.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.

Democrats believe in reigniting the American dream by removing barriers to success and building ladders of opportunity for all, so everyone can succeed.

America must be a light to the world, not just a missile.

I had five children in six years. The day I brought my fifth baby home, that week, my daughter turned 6.

Americans deserve a better tomorrow, today.

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

The beauty of the Democratic Party is in the mix.

For 25 years, it has been my privilege to represent the city of San Francisco and the great state of California; to work to strengthen our vibrant middle class; to secure opportunity and equality.

America will be far safer if we reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in one of our cities than if we diminish the civil liberties of our own people.

Jobs are central to the American dream - and President Obama has focused on jobs from day one.

Presidents and speakers for over 100 years had tried to pass affordable care for all Americans. It was challenged over and over. The Supreme Court declared it constitutional.

Being the first woman speaker and breaking the marble ceiling is pretty important. Now it's time to move on.

The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well-being of our countries.

Bipartisanship is nice, but it cannot be a substitute for action, not having it cannot prevent us from going forward.

Let me just say as one who has been speaker of the House, I've had to have a very thick skin about every kind of thing that was thrown at me.

The American dream is about freedom.

We're sad about some of the losses of members of great seniority and distinction in the Congress, and some very new members, who will no longer be serving with us.

The war on terror is the war in Afghanistan.

I would never think of crying about any loss of an office, because that's always a possibility, and if you're professional, then you deal with it professionally.

I have a few uniforms - depending on whether I'm going to a college campus or meeting a head of state. But clean and easy works best for me.

My husband and I, when we had our five children and they were grown, we thought we were entitled to grandchildren. And so we were just expecting this to happen; of course, nothing was happening. And then we kept begging, bribing, cajoling, anything - threatening to adopt our own grandchildren - and finally, we got some grandchildren.

The Republican Party is the Grand Old Party. It's made enormous contributions to the success of our country. And it is a party that has embraced its leadership role when it has had the majority or the White House.

If you don't vote, you don't count.

I would say that one of the things that encouraged me so much when I became elected to the leadership was the letters I received from fathers of daughters, saying that, 'My daughter can now do many more things because of what you did.'

I know about raising money.

I do believe that during the Bush-Cheney administration, that Vice President Cheney set a tone and an attitude for the CIA.

Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.

Let's just do what is right for the American people. And those of us who are involved in politics and government know that our responsibility is to the American people, that we have a responsibility to find our common ground, to seek it and to find it.