The Starr Report: `I don't think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned'

These are edited highlights ofPresident Clinton's words at a prayer breakfast in the White House yesterday, when he said he had sinned in his relationship with ex-intern Monica Lewinsky, and asked forgiveness from his family, Lewinsky and the American people.

I DON'T THINK there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned. It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine - first and most important, my family, also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people.

I believe that to be forgiven, more than sorrow is required. First, genuine repentance, a determination to change and to repair breaches of my own making. I have repented.

Second, what my Bible calls a broken spirit. An understanding that I must have God's help to be the person that I want to be. A willingness to give the very forgiveness I seek.

A renunciation of the pride and the anger, which cloud judgment, lead people to excuse and compare, and to blame and complain. Now, what does all this mean for me and for us?

First, I will instruct my lawyers to mount a vigorous defence using all available, appro- priate arguments. But legal language must not obscure the fact that I have done wrong.

Second, I will continue on the path of repentance seeking pastoral support - and that of other caring people so that they can hold me accountable for my own commitment.

Third, I will intensify my efforts to lead our country and the world toward peace and freedom, prosperity and harmony. And in the hope that, with a broken spirit and a still strong heart, I can be used for greater good for we have many blessings and many challenges, and so much work to do.

In this, I ask for your prayers and for your help in healing our nation. ... It is very important that our nation move forward.

I am very grateful for the many, many people - clergy and ordinary citizens alike - who have written me with wise counsel. I am profoundly grateful for the support of so many Americans who somehow ... seem to still know that I care about them a great deal, that I care about their problems and their dreams.

I am grateful for those who have stood by me and who say that, in this case and many others, the bounds of privacy have been excessively and unwisely invaded. That may be.

Nevertheless, in this case, it may be a blessing because I still sinned. And if my repentance is genuine and sustained ... then good can come of this for our country, as well as for me and my family.