“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

“There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing.”

“Labels are boring and often have nothing to with the person; it is just the way others perceive you, or choose to perceive you.”

“Great men, great nations, have not been boasters and buffoons, but perceivers of the terror of life, and have manned themselves to face it.”

“The female heart is a world unto itself, incomprehensible to men. Yet I perceive that you have been of a mood today: pensive, contemplative, hesitant, expectant. And you have spent the better part of the day watching me as if you thought I might follow your merlin into the sky and never return.”

“I would not have shied away from an assignment to sail a canoe around Cape Horn or to take charge of the government of Afghanistan.”