Quotes from Nancy Gibbs

When U.S.-based editors and columnists parachute into a news storm, it is often the stringers who keep us out of trouble, helping us glimpse the complexity behind the headlines.

The Catholic Church is one of the oldest, largest and richest institutions on earth, with a following 1.2 billion strong, and change does not come naturally.

On the court, Jason Collins is not a huge basketball star, but he has already claimed his place in civil rights history as the first openly gay athlete to play in one of the four major U.S. sports leagues.

A lot of camps and summer programs for kids seem to have discovered that among the most valuable things they offer is what they don't offer. No Wi-Fi. No grades. No hovering parents or risk managers or parents who parent like risk managers.

Americans sometimes ask what the government does and where their tax money goes. Among other things, it pays for all kinds of invisible but essential safety nets and life belts and guardrails that are useless right up until the day they are priceless.

On a normal day, we value heroism because it is uncommon. On Sept. 11, we valued heroism because it was everywhere.

A runner's stride is not perfectly efficient.

There may be no less original idea than the notion that our hearts hold dominion over our heads.

After the 1960s and '70s, there were real doubts about whether a mortal man could handle the country's highest office. It had destroyed Johnson, corrupted Nixon, and overwhelmed Ford and Carter.

It's always been a luxury to be able to hop a plane to Paris, to Venice, to the Grand Canyon.

In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than 1 in 5 girls make it to secondary school.

We've seen what happens when it serves a president's interest to flaunt his faith - which is almost inevitably does, since every poll affirms that Americans want their leader to submit to some higher power.

We want laws to be applied predictably.

Twenty-first century war adds new risks: more and more often there are no front lines, no central command, no rules of engagement - only a chaotic collision of politics, power, faith and bloodlust. Victims are as likely to be civilians as soldiers.

Just because we eat together does not mean we eat right: Domino's alone delivers a million pizzas on an average day.

Rand Paul does not like being compared to his father Ron any more than sons named Bush like to dance in their father's shadow, but the crucial difference is that while the Bushes all hail from the relative mainstream of the GOP, the Pauls have an ideological tributary virtually to themselves.

When National Guardsmen shot four unarmed students at Kent State, virtually the entire system of higher education shuddered and stopped.

As long as people have been making little people, they've wanted to know how not to.

For the truly faithful no miracle is necessary. For those who doubt no miracle is sufficient.

Family dinner in the Norman Rockwell mode had taken hold by the 1950s: Mom cooked, Dad carved, son cleared, daughter did the dishes.

Ask friends about the people and places that shaped them, and summer springs up quickly when they tell their story: their first kiss, first beer, first job that changed everything.

The wand is mighter then the sword.

Nixon to Clinton: "When seeking advice from people who are more experienced than you, tell them what you plan to do first, and then ask for their reaction. Don't ask for their advice, and then ignore it. That way you save on bruised feelings.

If compassion and mercy are not compatible with politics," Ford said, "then something is the matter with politics.