It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.
Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.
If you are explaining, you are losing.
I'm secure in who I am. I don't need the validation of those that would say, you have to be a certain thing in order to be accepted. I'm comfortable going against the grain if I need to.
Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.
The measure of a man is not how great his faith is, but how great his love is. We must not let government programs disconnect our souls from each other.
I would caution all of us or I would remind all of us that any candidate that we support, they are going to be flawed.
Everything I am I owe to my faith and secondly to parents who were old school.
Having a Republican candidate speak at the NAACP convention is like trying to build a house starting at the roof. If you don't have a foundation, the roof isn't going to stand.
The Democratic Party has taken the black community for granted and said, 'This is the most loyal constituency we have. They're not going anywhere.' But the Republican Party has said, 'That's the most loyal constituency Democrats have. They're not going anywhere. We've got to win without them.'
Individual responsibility, hard work, paying attention in school, faith, family all these things are important.
Republicans think that the NAACP is the only voice in the black community. It is a voice in the black community. But it's not the only voice.
My work in the House of Representatives, at this time in my life, is completed. It is time to return home.
When it comes to the American dream, no one has a corner on the market. All of us have an equal chance to share in that dream.
I think the Republican Party should be a pro-life party. I am pro-life. I do not apologize for that. On the flip side of that coin, the Republican Party has been big enough to allow pro-choice advocates to be heard.
I'm not one that believes that affirmative action should be based on one's skin color or one's gender, I think it should be done based on one's need, because I think if you are from a poor white community, I think that poor white kid needs a scholarship just as badly as a poor black kid.
Most of all, however, critics of black conservatives say we've forgotten where we came from. I may forget a federal budget number or, God forbid, to set the alarm clock for my weekly 6 a.m. flight to Washington, but I know exactly where I came from.
The more I ponder some of the boneheaded decisions GOP candidates have made of late, I can't bring myself to believe that they are serious about capturing more than about 8 percent of the black vote.
Well, Mark, I led the charge for five or six years to get reforms for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I was chairman of an organization called 'FM Policy Focus.' What we were saying was, if there was blip in the housing market, Fannie and Freddie would destabilize the greatest economy in the world.
I embrace my blackness, just as I do my conservatism and my Christianity, but I don't want to be defined or pigeonholed by any one of the many elements that make up my character.
