EDWARD BROOKE

I always believed there would be an African-American president. It was something I'd dreamed about, thought about, but certainly did not believe would happen in my lifetime.

The polarization of Congress; the decline of civility; and the rise of attack politics in the 1980s, the 1990s, and the early years of the new century are a blot on our political system and a disservice to the American people.

I don't intend to leave the Republican Party, but I would like to move the Republican Party more to the center.

I chose the Republican Party early on in the 1950s and 1960s in Massachusetts. My father was a Republican, as was my mother, in Virginia.

I can't serve just the Negro cause. I've got to serve all the people of Massachusetts.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I found that out when I was Attorney General in Massachusetts.

My campaign confirmed my belief that although there are bigots in America, whose hateful rhetoric seizes the media's attention, the vast majority of people do not harbor such prejudice.

Intemperance and intolerance serve no one, and hatred guarantees failure.

I had made my reputation on integrity.

Politics is not a tea party. When it is time to act, you have to move fast and decisively.

I want to be elected on my own ability. Only then do you have progress... People should not use race as a basis for labelling me.

I never studied much at Howard, but at Boston University, I didn't do much else but study.

When I left the Senate in 1979, there were several publishers who had approached me about writing an autobiography, and I knew that politicians write books for many reasons, but at that time, I just thought I wasn't ready and my story wasn't over, and I knew I had a new life ahead of me.

Fred Thompson was a law partner of mine.

I wanted to go to Washington to bring people together who had never been together before. I wanted to break down the barriers between races.

In my state, the Republican Party was the most progressive party.

I was one of God's chosen few, no doubt about it. Not only being elected, but the joy and pleasure I derived from it. It was a wonderful life.

I've never tried to run away from my race. I was born a black man. You know that in your bones as soon as you are able to understand this country... My approach to life about race is, I don't see the difference between black people and white people.

I had male breast cancer and had dual radical modified mastectomy, and I've spent a lot of time working with the Susan G. Komen foundation to make men aware of male breast cancer - if you have breast tissue, you can have breast cancer.

My fervent expectation is that sooner rather than later, the United States Senate will more closely reflect the rich diversity of this great country.

I grew up segregated, but there was not much feeling of being shut out of anything.

When most presidents get in, they move to the center because they realize that this is a centrist country - even Reagan.

When I arrived in the Senate, the moderate so-called Rockefeller Republicans held the balance of power.

You can't say the Negro left the Republican Party; the Negro feels he was evicted from the Republican Party.

I was entirely comfortable reaching across the Senate aisle to work with Democrats.