Most people have no idea how to politely answer a phone. The English do, and it's been their only major business advantage for the past two centuries.
Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way.
Being a leader for me is about having the courage to speak the truth, and live the truth, despite attempts to silence our thoughts, feelings, and past experiences.
Within white Australia, there was a growing movement for what was known as reconciliation - a movement that peaked with millions marching in 2000 to demand the government say sorry for past injustices.
The same undisciplined government spending and social engineering that has undermined our economy over the past 30 years has also been tearing at the social fabric of this land.
Health care for all Americans is the most pressing domestic issue today. It's far past time for the President and Congress to deliver health care to everyone.
The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented precisely such a hope - that America had learned from its past and acted to secure a better tomorrow.
Baseball presents a living heritage, a game poised between the powerful undertow of seasons past and the hope of next day, next week, next year.
The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present.
I don't plan ahead; each book finds me. History itself, the resonance of the past with the present, is the common denominator in all of them.
I respect the British a lot - their history, their past, their culture. I think it's beautiful, what they have with the monarchy.
Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to suit the perceptions of the present.
I like fiction and the kind of history that gives the grace and flavor of fiction to the past. No bloviation on current events, please. I can write that junk myself.
I turn my negatives into my positives because one of my mottos is, 'Yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery,' meaning that you can't go back and change anything in the past.
If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.
I keep my scrapbooks in the car. When I come to a stoplight, I start looking through my past. Sometimes I wish the red lights were longer.
The same things we've done the past couple of seasons. We've worked on the engine and clutch. We'll try and pick up the performance and consistency of the car and go back out there.
My dad was always busy. You would pop round for a cup of tea, and within minutes you would see him walking past with a step-ladder. He was always fixing things.
Our politics are our deepest form of expression: they mirror our past experiences and reflect our dreams and aspirations for the future.
We have peace with God as soon as we believe, but not always with ourselves. The pardon may be past the prince's hand and seal, and yet not put into the prisoner's hand.
'American Idol' has done a great job of defaming my name and throwing a lot of mud at me for the past two years, so that set up a lot of roadblocks for me.
