I started caddying when I was nine years old at a very exclusive country club in Dayton, Ohio. And I saw how the other half lived, if you will.

I`m one of those cliff-hanging Catholics. I don`t believe in God, but I do believe that Mary was his mother.

There`s no way that I could be the president. You can`t have a pacifist in the White House... I`m an actor. This is what I do for a living.

The key word about The West Wing is show. It is not a reality show. It has nothing to do with reality.

This Administration has led us into an area without vision. Bush has no clear understanding of what is being asked of the citizens, and the military is under his direction.

Well, I think that Catholicism`s basic foundation of faith is personal conscience. I think it`s between you and God, not you and the Church.

I personally am opposed to abortion, but I will not judge anybody else`s right in that regard because I am not a woman and I could never face the actual reality of it.

George W Bush is like a bad comic working the crowd, a moron, if you`ll pardon the expression.

And Jesus in all of his teaching was very clear about the heart of the law, not the letter. And I think we have to remember that we are human first.

I don`t think that people in America are really given enough information about the Third World.

No father could ever be prouder of his son. I hold Charlie`s accomplishments dearer than my own. He has been through so much and overcome so much more. Even if he weren`t my son he`d still be my best friend. - On son Charlie

My plan is to read English literature, philosophy and theology in Galway, Ireland, where my late mother came from and where I`m also a citizen.

I still believe in the nonviolent Jesus and the basic human goodness present in all of us.

We think of violence as being conflict and fighting and wars and so forth, but the most ongoing horrific measure of violence is in the horrible poverty of the Third World... and the poverty in the United States as well.

You never know when you are doing something that is affecting someone.

Those years on the golf course as a caddie, boy, those people were something. They were vulgar, some were alcoholics, racist, they were very difficult people to deal with. A lot of them didn`t have a sense of humor.

When I reached adulthood, even now, I could afford to belong to a country club. But I could never belong to a private club because of my experience as a child, because it would isolate me from the whole of humanity.

I just think that the only way we come to ourselves is through each other.

On the show, we are not trying to get people to eat their vegetables; we are not trying to get people to become Democrats. We are basically trying to encourage people to get involved with public life so that politics isn`t left to the wealthy and privileged.

It is my pleasure to support a candidate who truly reflects our values and highest ideals.

I am a very conscientious golfer. I count every stroke. I learned to play that way. That is the only way I can play. It taught me to be honest. There is no greater virtue than honesty.

Golf is fundamentally about being honest. I see people hit eight shots and tell me they shot five. I never say a word. It is a reminder to me of what is at stake.

That is someone who follows the teachings of the nonviolent Jesus and takes the gospel personally, and then pays the price. I fall into that category.

I have been accused of being a traitor, and I have been accused of not supporting the military. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What we try to say is that it doesn`t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat or conservative or independent. You are equally responsible for your place in the culture, and you must make a contribution, and you must accept responsibility for what goes down on your watch.

War at this time and in this place is unwelcome, unwise, and simply wrong.

Future generations are not going to ask us what political party were you in. They are going to ask what did you do about it, when you knew the glaciers were melting.

I love my country enough to suffer its wrath - on his political activism and arrests for protests.

I never went to college when I was young and am looking forward to giving it a try... at age 65!

It doesn`t really matter how much of the rules or the dogma we accepted and lived by if we`re not really living by the fundamental creed of the Catholic Church, which is service to others and finding God in ourselves and then seeing God in everyone - including our enemies.

We are the generation that brought the bomb in. We have got to be the generation that should take it out.

Anybody who plays golf will tell you that you play against yourself.

I think President Clinton was probably the brightest President of the 20th century.

I honestly do not know if civil disobedience has any effect on the government. I can promise you it has a great effect on the person who chooses to do it.

I am not the President. Instead, I hold an even higher office, that of citizen of the United States.

No, no, I never despair, because George Bush is not running the universe. He may be running the United States, he may be running the military, he may be running even the world, but he is not running the universe, he is not running the human heart.

I think the Church is a conduit to God. The Church is not God. And I think that from the very beginning Jesus taught us that.

We live in a very dysfunctional society, and this is a very, very dysfunctional Administration.

My first civil disobedience arrest for social justice was in 1986 for protesting the SDI.

And there are so many people in the third world suffering so horribly right now, and we are so focused on ourselves and our culture that a lot of things are showing up in our culture that are making it impossible for us to focus on others. We`re so self-focused.

We (actors) don`t really change the world. We reflect it... but Washington really changes the world.

I do it because I can`t seem to live with myself if I do not. I don`t know any other way to be. It isn`t something you can explain; it is just something that you do; it is something that you are.

Don`t invade Iraq. Inspections work, war won`t.

I adored Mr. Clinton. And he was a fan of The West Wing. For a while we were given carte Blanche at the White House, which ended when Bush got in - ended for me anyway. When the new administration got into power, all my West Wing colleagues were invited there to meet their counterparts. All except me. I was very relieved about that.

«... But I am equally against the death penalty or war -- anywhere people are sacrificed for some end justifying a means.»

"I consider myself a liberal Democrat, but I`m against abortion."

"I love my country enough to suffer its wrath" - on his political activism and arrests for protests

"I love being Spanish as much as I love being Irish, and I really love being Irish."