Hunting forces a person to endure, to master themselves, even to truly get to know the wild environment. Actually, along the way, hunting and fishing makes you fall in love with the natural world. This is why hunters so often give back by contributing to conservation.

Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot.

“It enables us to show a room of architectural distinction which is quite unique in England, to share the challenge of conservation that stood between the public and the finished room, and to share a room which helps us to tell our visitors more about the people and estates that supported Nostell.”

“He's going to face the same two blocks that have constrained things in the past: the conservative Muslim constituency that doesn't want to see the whole Islamic system tainted on the one hand, and the reformers that don't want to see any roll backs of civil liberties on the other.”

“I don't know what compassionate conservative means. Does it mean cutting kids out of after school programs, Does it mean drilling in the arctic wildlife refuge? Does it mean sending kids to Iraq without body armor that's state of the art?”

“That is the litmus test that distinguishes legal conservatives from liberals: What is the proper role of the courts in deciding contentious, divisive social issues? ... It would be very surprising to see someone who clerked for Rehnquist, who worked for Ronald Reagan , to change from that basic view.”

“If Democrats are going to try to win a conservative or moderate district, but come across as a member of the anti-war movement, I'm not sure that's a good idea. On the other hand, if they have some criticism of the war, but are still willing to put on the uniform, I think that's fine.”

“We have no problem bringing (young) people out for hikes and social activities. But when you flip that and say how many of those people show up for conservation activities or for going down to the City Council (meeting), that is where the numbers drop off drastically.”

“Lucent's accounting practices will now be more in line with those of most major U.S. corporations. Lucent's method of valuing pension and benefit assets had been among the most conservative of the more than 150 large U.S. corporations surveyed by our auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.”

“A recent article in Science has shown how a marine protected area in shallower habitat has been effective. Additionally, we have seen the call for reduced fishing mortality on deep-sea stocks in the Northeast Atlantic and believe that could be an appropriate conservation measure.”