If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success.

Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention. Most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn't matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest.

The Bush Administration's failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world.

In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.

If you're looking for the safe choice, you shouldn't be supporting a black guy named Barack Obama to be the next leader of the free world.

As president, I'm committed to making Washington work better and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.

After 2014, we will support a unified Afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future.

America isn't Congress. America isn't Washington. America is the striving immigrant who starts a business, or the mom who works two low-wage jobs to give her kid a better life. America is the union leader and the CEO who put aside their differences to make the economy stronger.

Our combat mission is ending, but our commitment to Iraq's future is not.

Yes, we've still got more work to do. More work to do for every American still in need of a good job or a raise, paid leave or a decent retirement; for every child who needs a sturdier ladder out of poverty or a world-class education; for everyone who has not yet felt the progress of these past seven and a half years.

My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.

We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party.

We welcome the scrutiny of the world - because what you see in America is a country that has steadily worked to address our problems and make our union more perfect.

The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.

Let my skin and sinews and bones dry up, together with all the flesh and blood of my body! I welcome it! But I will not move from this spot until I have attained the supreme and final wisdom.

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

I was born into the world as the king of truth for the salvation of the world.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

He who walks in the eightfold noble path with unswerving determination is sure to reach Nirvana.

I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world - a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.

He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.

A jug fills drop by drop.

Without health life is not life; it is only a state of langour and suffering - an image of death.

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

A woman of the world is anxious to exhibit her form and shape, whether walking, standing, sitting, or sleeping. Even when represented as a picture, she desires to captivate with the charms of her beauty and, thus, to rob men of their steadfast heart.

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?