As a purely mathematical fact, people who sleep less live more.

There are all these new books out there portraying Asian mothers as scheming, callous, overdriven people indifferent to their kids' true interests. For their part, many Chinese secretly believe that they care more about their children and are willing to sacrifice much more for them than Westerners, who seem perfectly content to let their children turn out badly. I think it's a misunderstanding on both sides. All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. The Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that.

Do you know what a foreign accent is? It's a sign of bravery.

I do play tennis, but I don't really like competition. I'm supposed to be so intense, but I hate competition.

The most successful hyperpowers are the ones where there was actual intermixing. Tang dynasty China was Chinas golden age, and contrary to what I was told when I was growing up, Tang China was founded by a man who by todays standards was no more than half Chinese. It was a mixed-blood dynasty that pulled in "barbarians" from the steppe.

Questioning authority is, I think, a great thing to instill in children. I just didn't have enough of that when I was little.

A Western upbringing tends to stress questioning authority, which is always asking why, why, why.