George H.W. Bush

You do not reform a world by ignoring it.

I remember when I was shot down in that war. I remember how terrified I was. And it made me feel close to my family, and to God, and to life, and I was scared.

We are enjoying sluggish times and not enjoying them very much.

Don't try to fine-tune someone else's view.

We sue each other too much and care for each other too little.

As for me, tough duty though it may be, I continue to do my part for the commercial recreation industry. Fishing, boating, tennis, golf, running, hunting, and all of this. Horseshoes. It's tough duty. Somebody has to do it, and I'm going to keep on.

We have had triumphs, we have made mistakes, we have had sex.

Then we lost a child, there was that incident, a four year-old little girl. It had a profound effect on me and on Barbara. You know, . . . when you lose a child some families go apart. There's a common wisdom that the loss of a loved one for parents divides them later on. People cite divorce statistics. In our case it was just the other way around. And our family has been close, close, close. And Barbara and I have been married for over 50 years, and I think that horrible incident drew us even closer together.

I take as my guide the hope of a saint: in crucial things, unity - in important things, diversity - in all things, generosity.

We are not the sum of our possessions.