What surprised me was the angst at our democracy. And I understand it - I teach at a university and feel it in my students - but what I've tried to say to people is that we have amazing institutions, but nobody ever said we were perfect. We struggled before and we're struggling now, and we're going to struggle every day. We're a work in progress. That's why the American experience is so important for us to remember, and for us to be a beacon for others to enjoy those same rights.

We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

I believe in having a private life.

Education is transformational. It changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated and why education has always been the key to the American Dream, the force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture and unlocks every person's God-given potential.

In America, with education and hard work, it really does not matter where you came from; it matters only where you are going.

I'm a terrible long-term planner.

Your passion may be hard to spot, so keep an open mind and keep searching.