Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I would say first in response to the gentleman, and I respect his position and his background, but I would say if he had a development in the Greek language, he might think of that pursuit of happiness as what our Founding Fathers did. They called it eudaimonia, E-U-D-A-I-M-O-N-I-A, the Greek word. That means developing the whole human being--the body, the mind, the spirit, and the soul--all together. That pursuit of happiness wasn't about a tailgate party. It was about becoming the best human being that you could. That is a little difference in the translation of the language that got lost. It is an example of how we are divided by language rather than unified by a common language. Another example would be Israel. It became a country in 1948. In 1954, they adopted Hebrew as their official language. I asked them why, and they said: Because we saw the example of the United States, that you have embraced English as your common language. It has unified the people. We needed to have a language to unify the Israelis. And it has been successful, and I could give you examples. One day I got in a taxicab and there was a gentleman there. He spoke perfect English and he didn't seem to fit what a normal taxicab driver was. I said: Where were you raised? He said: Bosnia. How long have you been here? Seven years. Did you learn English before you came? Not a word. How can you speak perfect English in 7 years? He said: It helps when you have to.…”