I hope telling the story of how I went from being a single mom to serving in the Texas State Senate to running for governor will remind others that with the right leadership in government, where you start has nothing to do with how far you go.

I can say with absolute certainty that I will run for one of two offices: my state Senate seat or for the governor. I'm still trying to decide, but I do think people are ready for a change from the partisan, very fractured leadership we have in Texas.

I've never worried about payback. People are hungry for leadership that's not afraid of political consequence.

While Texas women have the right to safe, legal abortion, in reality there are already very few facilities in Texas to provide this essential care. In 2008, 92 percent of Texas counties had no abortion provider.

I was living as a young single mom. I was 19 when I was divorced, and my daughter was a year old, and I waited tables here three to four nights a week for several years while I was trying to support myself and my daughter and the day I got that acceptance at Harvard Law School was an unforgettable day.

The truth is that at age 19, I was a teenage mother living alone with my daughter in a trailer and struggling to keep us afloat on my way to a divorce. And I knew then that I was going to have to work my way up and out of that life if I was going to give my daughter a better life and a better future, and that's what I've done.

Real Texans don't want any woman to die of cancer because she can't get decent health care or medical advice. Real Texans don't want any woman to lose control of her life because she can't get birth control.

I am proud of where I came from, and I am proud of what I've been able to achieve through hard work and perseverance. And I guarantee you that anyone who tries to say otherwise hasn't walked a day in my shoes.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - what a joke. In my district, we caught them lying to us about the results of air quality studies in the Barnett Shale. They are playing with the health and safety of our communities, and we are going to tell them that is not acceptable.

I come from a family of strong women, who have been positive role models for me.

The Dolls were an attitude. If nothing else they were a great attitude.

This idea that if you're pro-environment you're anti-energy is just something we've got to change, so that attitude is something we're working on very much.

What is true environmentalism? I think it's environmental stewardship - not prohibition.

EPA's role is even broader than water infrastructure and cleaning up contaminated land - the agency also has a key role in allowing projects to move forward by reviewing environmental impact statements during the permitting process.

There is a reason and a need to have an Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA will set a national standard for greenhouse gas emissions that allows auto manufacturers to make cars that people both want and can afford - while still expanding environmental and safety benefits of newer cars.

The 'environmental left' tells us that, though we have natural resources like natural gas and oil and coal, and though we can feed the world, we should keep those things in the ground, put up fences, and be about prohibition.

We're saying environmental stewardship and jobs in the economy. We can do both together.

We, as a country, have always used innovative technology to advance environmental stewardship, reduction of those pollutants, but also grown our economy at the same time.

As we do our work in D.C., we should do our work in collaboration and in partnership, in cohesion with states so that we can work on environmental issues from Superfund to air quality to water quality across the full spectrum in things that we do in partnership with those folks.

As Oklahoma attorney general, it is not my job to formulate or implement Oklahoma's plan, but it is my job to preserve Oklahoma's right to do so - particularly when the Clean Air Act so clearly recognizes that Oklahomans, and not federal bureaucrats, are best situated to determine Oklahoma energy and environmental policies.

'Sue and settle' involves the creation of environmental rules and regulations through lawsuits filed by environmental groups against the EPA, not through Congress or proper rule-making.

The success of the suffrage movement would injure women spiritually and intellectually, for they would be assuming a burden though they knew themselves unable to bear it. It is the sediment, not the wave, of a sex. It is the antithesis of that highest and sweetest mystery - conviction by submission, and conquest by sacrifice.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

It has always been the aim of royalty and aristocracy to lower the individual liberty and independence of the common people. A baron and a minute-man could not breathe the same air.

It is heroic to prepare for war with a tyrant power. Patriots will always win the admiration of mankind for daring to meet the bloodshed of battle for their country's liberty. But the patriot who is willing to go to that sacrifice will be the first to condemn the aimless and secret shedding of blood in time of peace.

Social equity is based on justice; politics change on the opinion of the time. The black man's skin will be a mark of social inferiority so long as white men are conceited, ignorant, unjust, and prejudiced. You cannot legislate these qualities out of the white - you must steal them out by teaching, illustration, and example.

The short form, speed, and consistency of communication by Trump beat Clinton's nuanced, detailed, and long-form communication. Trump came across as more genuine, Clinton as less than transparent. Trump engaged directly with his community; Clinton spoke through the media in a careful and less frequent manner.

We have to improve our ability to deliver tangible results, namely sales, not simply awareness or change of attitude among opinion formers.

Technology has allowed the creation of media echo chambers, so that a person can reinforce, rather than debate, viewpoints.

In our family business, the Edelman children must earn their way - there were and will be no promises without performance and leadership. That may lead to some skinned knees, but it is certainly the best way to learn life lessons.

Modern, effective leadership means moving beyond the 'grand illusion' to engage the mass population and to align business with societal goals.

Engagement and integrity are the two most fundamental aspects of building trust; lead from the front by evolving your company strategy, then live your values every day.

As trust in institutions erodes, the basic assumptions of fairness, shared values, and equal opportunity traditionally upheld by 'the system' are no longer taken for granted.

Social media has had a corrosive effect on government and trust, and I think it is a real cause for concern.

The trust of the mass population can no longer be taken for granted, and any continuation of the 'grand illusion' is dangerous for leaders in today's world.

We believe in a best-in-class vertical strategy, with PR at the center as its operating ethos of earned at the core, social by design.

Edelman diversified into public affairs in the late '60s with important programs for the Concorde SST, gaining landing rights at JFK Airport in New York, and in the late '70s generating public approval for the building of the very stark Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, D.C., from a design by the very young architect Maya Lin.

There are a lot of female artists my age around at the moment, but they're all American and blonde and blue-eyed and smiley. I'm totally the opposite of that. I want to show a bit more attitude and I have an opinion.

I'm having a great time. It's like I'm on some ridiculous big roller coaster not knowing what's happening next, but just having a great time on the ride.

All I want to do when I have time off is to have a laugh with my school friends and go down the pub.

Success will be when I can have a real swimming pool instead of the fifty-dollar one I buy at Kmart every year. But I don't want to get robbed of any authenticity to try and make money.

I guess some people want to be performers because they want to be famous.

I think that there have been a lot of fear-based assertions that feminism is about aggression, and that is incorrect and untrue. Feminism is about equality; that's what it's about.

I got great sex education, and I always knew that if I wanted to be sexually active, I had to have safe sex.

I like to wear dresses and skirts when I go onstage because the attitude that I have is, 'I'm so excited to introduce myself to you.' And I want to be wearing what I'd be wearing to a date or a dinner party.

It looks like I'm just gonna keep getting really, really happy and sad and embarrassed and excited and disappointed for the rest of my life, so let's just do that.

I hope that the restaurant I go to will have buffalo chicken fingers. I hope that one day I can work with Matt Damon. I have big and little dreams, and they're all equally important to me. A life without buffalo chicken fingers, I don't know if I would want that life. Even if it meant I got to work with Matt Damon. Everything has its worth.

When I was growing up, I was so fascinated by Mel Blanc and all of the different voices that he did for 'Looney Tunes' and watching Robin Williams record voice-over for the genie in 'Aladdin.' It always seemed to be a major honor - something you have to earn. Like people trust you when they want to have you there without seeing you.

I tend to be really spacey, but I don't think it's because I'm unintelligent - it's just my imagination and a little bit of ADD.