Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion–and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special. Because everyone is.

A leader must look and act the part.

We must not think of learning as only what happens in schools. It is an extended part of life. The most readily available resource for all of life is our public library system.

If you get down about the state of American culture, just remember there are still more public libraries in this country than there are McDonalds.

Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave.

I love to go to the places where things happen. I like to walk the walk and see how the light falls and what winter feels like.

The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement... To do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.