The kids never listen to you, especially the youngest ones.

My first job in all honesty is going to continue to be mom-in-chief. Making sure that in this transition, which will be even more of a transition for the girls… that they are settled and that they know they will continue to be the center of our universe.

I would say the most satisfying thing actually is watching my three children each pick up on their own interests and work many more hours per week than most people that have jobs at trying to intelligently give away that money in fields that they particularly care about.

One thing that I tell people all the time is, ‚I’m not going to answer a call from you after nine o’clock at night or before nine o’clock in the morning unless it’s an emergency.‘

I’m blessed to have such a tight-knit family that we can talk about anything. Whether we talk frequently or not, since we’re on separate ends of the country, there are a lot of moving parts, and we always stay tight and find that center ground that keeps us together.

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

There are a lot of self-imposed restrictions by people who somehow believe they have to fall in with a certain military cant. There was always a sense that we had to put things into words that would touch our troops‘ hearts, not just their heads.

The PC has improved the world in just about every area you can think of. Amazing developments in communications, collaboration and efficiencies. New kinds of entertainment and social media. Access to information and the ability to give a voice people who would never have been heard.

Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.

I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I’m not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.

Before I look stupid and not know what a word means or how to pronounce it, I’ll stop the whole production: ‚Hey, real quick, guys. Define this word for me. Somebody.‘

Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about.

I have a family, loving aunts, and a good home. No, on the surface I seem to have everything except my one true friend. All I think about when I’m with friends is having a good time. I can’t bring myself to talk about anything but ordinary everyday things. We don’t seem to be able to get any closer, and that’s the problem.

Kids end up seeing my movies anyway but some of the mothers get mad at me so I figured I’d make one that I can’t get yelled at for.

The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice.

A man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them.

Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.

I can unload my opinion on anybody at anytime.

Mum had done everything you need to educate a kid. She made me a kid who likes books and she told me about ‚Wind in the Willows‘ and read it and I thought this is weird, Rat, Mole, Toad and my first ever Bolshie thought – you know about ‚The Wind in the Willows.‘

If I’m in a political argument, I think I can, with reasonable accuracy and without boasting, put the other person’s side of the case at least as well as they could. One has to be able to say that in any well-conducted argument.

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.

We can’t form our children on our own concepts; we must take them and love them as God gives them to us.

Tell the children the truth.

So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.

Never give an order that can’t be obeyed.

When I talked to him on the phone yesterday. I called him George rather than Mr. Vice President. But, in public, it’s Mr. Vice President, because that is who he is.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Advertising works most effectively when it’s in line with what people are already trying to do. And people are trying to communicate in a certain way on Facebook – they share information with their friends, they learn about what their friends are doing – so there’s really a whole new opportunity for a new type of advertising model within that.

The problem with having a sense of humor is often that people you use it on aren’t in a very good mood.

People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people – and that social norm is just something that has evolved over time.

If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things.

I have ‚Parents‘ magazine in my home.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.

Each day we understand better what the Indians say, and they us, so that very often we are intelligible to each other.

Luckily for me, people don’t scream at me that much in my everyday life.

Hear reason, or she’ll make you feel her.

When our governments want to sell us a course of action, they do it by making sure it’s the only thing on the agenda, the only thing everyone’s talking about. And they pre-load the ensuing discussion with highly selected images, devious and prejudicial language, dubious linkages, weak or false ‚intelligence‘ and selected ‚leaks.‘

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.

The more you explain it, the more I don’t understand it.

When I was young, an eccentric uncle decided to teach me how to lie. Not, he explained, because he wanted me to lie, but because he thought I should know how it’s done so I would recognise when I was being lied to.

My parents were the same in the pulpit as they were at home. I think that’s where a lot of preachers‘ kids get off base sometimes. Because they don’t see the same things at both places.

We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.

I there represent that I sent notice of my method to Mr. Leibnitz before he sent notice of his method to me, and left him to make it appear that he had found his method before the date of my letter.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

Silence speaks so much louder than screaming tantrums. Never give anyone an excuse to say that you’re crazy.

If you’re the parent, be a parent. You know what I mean? I’m a parent. I have daughters.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

The short words are best, and the old words are the best of all.

If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.

I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.

We’re all bombarded with so many dietary messages that it’s hard to find time to sort through all this information, but we do have time to take a look at our kids‘ plates.

Sometimes, it’s just easier to say yes to that extra snack or dessert, because frankly, it is exhausting to keep saying no. It’s exhausting to plead with our kids to eat just one more bite of vegetables.

People don’t realise how difficult it is to work with people day in and day out that know absolutely nothing.

We’ve fallen into a trap of ever-widening orbits of contact, and there is a total disregard for the present moment.

If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.

I look at how my kids view exercise. They have a complete understanding that nutrition and exercise go hand in hand. I didn’t think like that when I was a kid. But they have a real consciousness about it that I’d like to think comes from the years of attention we’ve put into this.

When we launched a new company, I reviewed the ads and marketing materials and asked those presenting the campaign to read everything aloud to test the phrasing and concept. If I could grasp it quickly, then it passed with muster. We would get our message across only if it was understandable at first glance.

I think it’s brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen is called television – but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.

If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.