"I thought all my life that optimists and pessimists pass away the same way, so why be a pessimist?" — Shimon Peres

When I am speaking about American presidents, I have to speak about my very special relations with President Clinton. He contributed more to peace than anybody else in the American sense.

Let all of us turn from bullets to ballots, from guns to shovels.

Early in the morning, I fell in love with the girl that later on became my wife. At that time, we were so naive. I wanted to charm her, so I read her Capital by Marx. I thought somehow she would be convinced by the strength of his criticism about capital.

He taught me literature, and he actually taught me how to read. He was my personal mentor.