Our culture is more shaped by the arts and humanities than it often is by politics.

The arts and humanities are vastly more important in troubled times.

America is very decentralized in how it supports the humanities, unlike European countries where virtually everything stems from the central government.

If we don't change our culture, the politics is going to migrate more and more to statism.

The hallmark of our times is change and acceleration, but we have to provide the history.

Over the last 40 years the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities have strengthened our democracy by supporting our nation's ideals, institutions and emerging talents,