The sobering thought is that individuals and societies are not, in the end, remembered for how they made their money, but for how they spent it.

Instead of a national curriculum for education, what is really needed is an individual curriculum for every child

It is tempting to call for better leadership, but we probably expect too much from the leaders of the nations. Those nations are too big, the connections not strong enough, the commitment to the future not long enough. It is better to look smaller, to our now-smaller organisations, to local communities and cities, to families and clusters of friends, to small networks of portfolio people with time to give to something bigger than themselves. We have to fashion our own directions in our own places.

If there is one general law of communication it is that we never communicate as effectively as we think we do.

The best learning happens in real life with real problems and real people and not in classrooms.

We cannot wait for great visions from great people, for they are in short supply. It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness.

Ordinary citizens are so accepting of what is going on, grumbling when their material interests were affected, but seemingly accepting the spiritual poverty so characteristic of today.