Nothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs. This is the principle behind lotteries dating and religion.

But my father was also the one who told me I needed to clean up my mouth or I'd never find a man. What's very important to him is manners. Show up on time. Always send thank-you letters. He is one of the more thoughtful humans I've ever met. He's a great man and a very good dad.

My dad's one of my biggest heroes. I also think Paul Newman's an inspiration. I know a lot of people say that but I love that he's a great role model and a humanitarian. I admire people who don't necessarily want to change the world but try to make it a better environment.

Dad and mom would have preferred that I be a doctor a lawyer a scientist or a great humanitarian.

My humanitarian work evolved from being with my family. My mom my dad they really set a great example for giving back. My mom was a nurse my dad was a school teacher. But my mom did a lot of things for geriatrics and elderly people. She would do home visits for free.

There can be a fundamental gulf of gracelessness in a human heart which neither our love nor our courage can bridge.

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities - because it is the quality which guarantees all others.

I love revolutionaries who have the courage to stand up against the status quo. They're always misunderstood but they're the ones who are standing up for human rights.

There is no glory in war yet from the blackness of its history there emerge vivid colours of human character and courage. Those who risked their lives to help their friends.

None speak of the bravery the might or the intellect of Jesus but the devil is always imagined as a being of acute intellect political cunning and the fiercest courage. These universal and instinctive tendencies of the human mind reveal much.

But steel bars have never yet kept out a mob it takes something a good deal stronger: human courage backed up by the consciousness of being right.

The single outstanding exception was the broad yet precise mandate communicated by the General Assembly in 1946 to prepare as soon as possible the Charter of Human Rights which the San Francisco Conference had not had the time or the courage to draw up.

I'm a writer of faith who worries about the intolerance of religion. I look at the past and fear we haven't learned from it. I believe that humanity is capable of evil as well as great acts of courage and goodness. I have hope. Deep down I believe in the human spirit although sometimes that belief is shaken.

When we read stories of heroes we identify with them. We take the journey with them. We see how the obstacles almost overcome them. We see how they grow as human beings or gain qualities or show great qualities of strength and courage and with them we grow in some small way.

I think laughter may be a form of courage. As humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh and I think we are never more brave than when we do that.

It takes both courage and talent to stand up in front of fellow human beings and make them crack a smile and at the same time keep it clean.

There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion courage and hope. Not even tragic accident or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart.

The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.

There's only one requirement of any of us and that is to be courageous. Because courage as you might know defines all other human behavior. And I believe - because I've done a little of this myself - pretending to be courageous is just as good as the real thing.

I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism more humanness more compassion more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.

If human beings had genuine courage they'd wear their costumes every day of the year not just on Halloween.

Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up... a lot of people don't have the courage to do it.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.