I think if you're forthright and answer a lot of questions, sometimes you'll get people who won't let you answer the questions, and that makes for a difficult answer.
That's something that I struggled with - talking to my mother about some of the problems that I had.
Over the years I've grown more comfortable with making people uncomfortable because that is when growth can happen. You need a little conflict. You need a little tension. And that is part of my calling. A little tough love goes a long way!
Families in real life don't tend to resolve things neatly.
Sometimes one has to say difficult things, but one ought to say them as simply as one knows how.
I have several times made a poor choice by avoiding a necessary confrontation.
You make real progress when somebody is honest enough to say something that's really uncomfortable. Of course when you're a candidate's wife and when you're first lady and the first African-American first lady to boot, that is very, very hard to do.
We can't treat issues as taboo because we find them unpleasant.
Hunger and homelessness aren't things we always want to talk about.
Every time Maradona speaks it makes life difficult for everyone and there are those of us who don't agree with that, not when he talks about football, but rather about people.
Bosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news, disappointing data or hard problems.
I've actually come to respect the most irritatingly challenging people I've worked with as really valuable in improving group decision-making and what to do and what to invest in.
The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings - words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.
In an ideal world, everybody would find it easy to talk to the press... but not everybody is so excited.
What really excites me is the prospect of making people actually enjoy thinking about difficult topics, to laugh even while seriously engaging these very unpleasant subjects.
Every time I tried to tell you the words just came out wrong, so I'll have to say I love you in a song.
One of the difficulties about interviewing people in Rwanda is that the country is trying to get on with ordinary life and some people just don't want to get involved in this.
As governor, part of my job is to tell people things they don't like to hear.
All of US sometimes feel that one of the most difficult things in the world is to talk to US about US in an effort to help US.
We don't live in a shared reality, we each live in a reality of our own, and causing upset is often the price of trying to reach each other. It's always easier to dismiss other people than to go through the awkward and time consuming process of understanding them. We have given 'taking offense' a social status it doesn't deserve: it's not much more than a way of avoiding difficult conversations.
Some people, you have to grit your teeth in order to stay in the same room as them, but you get on and ask the questions you assume most of the people watching want to ask.
If you are going to make peace, you can't just meet nice people.
There are things that you cannot talk to your mother and father about, there are things that you cannot talk to your children about.
When you are playing for a top club, when the pressure is on, when scrutiny is everywhere, you need some privacy. You need a place away from public view where people can be open, and, at times, difficult conversations need to be had.
It's what I do well - I write about things that make people uncomfortable. That's probably the only thing I do better than my peers.
