Why do we spend so much of our limited time on this earth focusing on all the things that our eulogies will never cover?

How could someone with a renowned ability to inspire, communicate complex ideas, and connect with voters find himself in this position? The President [Barack Obama], though a dedicated student of history, has seemingly failed to learn the lesson of our nation's most significant political confrontations: They've required single-minded determination, and the willingness to battle until the fight was won.

A little learning is a dangerous thing. I must say that Rush Limbaugh is increasingly becoming a warning to kids of the perils of dropping out of school.

The crisis in America that we barely notice anymore is that we've become two nations - divided by poverty, opportunity, and race. It's like a neighbor's car alarm that we don't hear anymore because it rings so often.

Clearly drive, IQ, and hard work are incredibly important. But ultimately what matters most is resilience--the ability to quickly rebound from failures, indeed to see failure as a stepping stone to success.

Market forces have no intrinsically moral direction, which is why, before he wrote The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Ethics should precede economics. But it doesn't have to. . . . We know this because we've seen the results of capitalism without conscience: the pollution of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat; the endangerment of workers; and the sale of dangerous products - from cars to toys to drugs. All in pursuit of ever-greater profits.

Before checking that last email before you go to bed, say to yourself, No, I am important. This is important. My body is more important.