Newt Gingrich has a restless and outsized intelligence that is tragically unleavened by any kind of critical sensibility.

I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.

Well the fact is that one imagination is critically important and if you have had your imagination stimulated by what is basically a variety of subjects you are much more amenable to accepting to understanding and interacting with the realities of the world.

To my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

I don't care what other critics say I only hope to be played.

House and Senate Republicans are now united in adopting earmark bans. We hope President Obama will follow through on his support for an earmark ban by pressing Democratic leaders to join House and Senate Republicans in taking this critical step to restore public trust.

I had in mind a message although I hope it doesn't intrude too badly persuading Americans and especially Southerners of the critical importance of land and our vanishing natural environment and wildlife.

In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out.

Oh stuff the critics. I don't care. Too many people are snooty about classical. Look I wasn't brought up in a home where we listened to classical music. It was a singing teacher that thought it would be best for my voice. Then I moved into crossover. And if that makes the music accessible to more people then great.

However I was a restaurant critic at Chicago magazine before I worked at Esquire and I've been a really enthusiastic home cook for a long time. It's just something I'm passionate about.

The hardest thing is spending twelve hours a day accommodating the rest of the world then going home at night and criticizing it. I would be curious about what I'd write if I didn't have to worry about offending.

You make movies for the people. If critics happen to like them too well that's a home run.

Proper school nutrition must be complemented by activities outside of the cafeteria. The decisions parents make to keep their kids healthy are critical in fighting this battle on the home front.

Why shouldn't rap be esoteric able to take in current events history and criticism? I guess it's this old idea of containment - that rappers because they're black can't and shouldn't aspire to look outside the ghetto for influence.

Given political history in Chile it seemed to me that there was a critical task of consolidating a democracy and creating healthy civic-military and political-military relationships.

The German national character is a favorite subject of character experts probably because the less mature a nation the more she is an object of criticism and not of history.

Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.

Whether a woman's running for office or she's supporting her husband who's running for office and she gets criticised for wearing open-toed shoes or for the colour of her coat there's just a lot of history that you bear if you are a woman who puts herself out in the political arena.

Coal is absolutely critical to our nation's economic health and global competitiveness.

Community health centers do a great deal with limited resources. They provide critical medical care services to many who would otherwise have no other place to go or would end up in an emergency room.

And whether it is equal pay health care Social Security or family leave this Congress has refused to address issues critical to hard-working American women.

I think first and foremost everybody should understand that Canadians are strongly committed to the system of universal health insurance to the principle that your ability to pay does not determine your access to critical medical service.

Mental health is often missing from public health debates even though it's critical to wellbeing.

Earlier today Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized the California school system calling it disastrous. Arnold says California's schools are so bad that its graduates are willing to vote for me.

You can't win with some people. If you're not in government you're criticised for being not serious. If you are in government you're criticised for wanting power. That's the Labour party's line of attack and it's a bit ridiculous.

Republicans rarely criticize Obama for lack of empathy - in part because liberals have traditionally been seen as standing up for the weak and the vulnerable. Conservatives can be just as empathetic. But they believe that in most cases it's not government's role to be the primary dispenser of empathy.

Pretty much at all times music motivates me. How can I say this without sounding in any way proud of myself? Obviously I've always written songs that are critical of our government and talk about our times. Hopefully you attempt to be timeless while doing it.

Criticism in a time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government.

You have citizens who don't understand how government works and they're kind of soured on it. All they do is criticize. They have no idea that they can make things happen.