If you are going to achieve excellence in big things you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception it is a prevailing attitude.

Dying is an art like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call.

The reason why I love people and writing about them is because they don't always respond with hate and anger. If they did I wouldn't have a story to tell. Who wants to know about someone who was brutalised and became brutal? I'm interested in the exceptions.

My sister Jennifer is an Emmy winning journalist and mother of three amazing girls. She brings an exceptional dedication to her job her family and her community and has been a role model of mine for many many years. I'm extremely proud of her.

A lot of people fear death because they think that so overwhelming an experience has to be painful but I've seen quite a few deaths and with one exception I've never known anyone to undergo anything like agony. That's amazing when you think about it. I mean how complicated the mechanism is that's being taken apart.

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent of human knowledge that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.