“I taught high school English for 24 years. I always teach my students ...” — Mark Takano Quote

“I taught high school English for 24 years. I always teach my students to appreciate the beauty of language and to write poetically.”

“I think it is important for someone like me to not run away from who I am but embrace it. LGBT people across the country need to know they have a friend in Congress.”

“The model that I'd always seen as a little boy, as a teenager, as I watched other political careers, I saw people who'd start off in local government, gain experience, move to state government, and then on to federal office. I'd always believed that kind of experience was important.”

“Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.”

“It's not just Ethiopia, but Africa in general - most of the media concentrates on what's not going well. But there is so much beauty there. When you go, it changes everything. It changes you, your life, and the way you see things. The challenge is changing the image of Africa that's been anchored in people for years now.”

“A horse is a thing of beauty... none will tire of looking at him as long as he displays himself in his splendor.”