I can't imagine life without Poland. I find it very hard to find a place for myself in the West.
If Greece had gone through a very normal political life, I may have not been in politics. But just the fact that I lived through huge upheavals and very difficult struggles and polarization and the barbarism of dictatorships - that made me feel that we had to change this country.
I'm attracted to polarizing characters who upend the civility of life.
I don't look back. I don't live my life in the rear-view mirror because, if you do, you're bound to end up wrapped around a pole somewhere.
If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
I come here not as a polished politician but as a woman who has had her fair share of life's knocks.
Charlie Crist has gone through his entire political life with one stump speech - his grandfather polishing shoes.
If taking one-self seriously as a woman means committing to a life of grooming, pumicing, pruning and polishing one's exterior for the benefit of onlookers, then I may as well leave my unwieldy rucksack to the top of a bleak Scottish hill and make my home there under a stone, where I'll fashion shoes out of mud and clothes out of leaves.
I've learned, I think, to be able to distinguish between the necessary and the unnecessary as far as my limited outside time is concerned. Saying 'no' politely is a necessity if one wants to lead any kind of stable life.
In life, we mostly manage to walk around interacting with each other fairly politely. But as soon as we get into our cars, we morph into something out of 'Mad Max'.
Well, I've been in the political arena all of my life, and 10 years of that as a candidate and elected official, and that's about enough.
Those life experiences that helped shaped my political beliefs are with me in every position I take and every vote that I cast - whether it be in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, or improving our nation's education system.
I got my first camera when I was 21 - my boyfriend gave it to me for my birthday - but at that point politics was my life, and I viewed the camera as a tool for expressing my political beliefs rather than as an art medium.
We need to lift up the nation so we can find a more civil way to deal with our disagreements because, in these United States of America, no one should ever feel their life threatened over their political beliefs and positions.
My life will not be defined by a single political campaign. Those will come and go. But what has driven me to run for elected office in the past still drives me today: the knowledge that heroes do walk among us with tremendous strength and power.
I have led an unusual life. I have buried a father killed at age 50 and two brothers killed in the prime of their lives. I raised my children as a single mother when my husband was arrested and held for eight years without a conviction - a hostage to my political career.
I have sacrificed everything in my life that I consider precious to advance the political career of my husband.
Cheney's memoir is not about 9/11, or solely about Bush's administration, but about his entire life and political career.
There are no doubts that, the situation in the country today, indicates that there is much more work to do in the process of reforming the political economy and improving the quality of life of our people and communities.
For long, history was mainly political history, and historical narrative was confined to an account of the most important crises in political life, or to an account of wars and great generals.
