For people starting public radio shows, one of the things you have to do is you have to talk every single public radio station into picking you up.

The most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work.

It takes a while. It's gonna take you a while. It's normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.

Don't wait till you're older, or in some better job than you have now. Don't wait for anything. Don't wait till some magical...idea drops into your lap. That's not where ideas come from. Go looking for an idea and it'll show up. Begin now.

...these stories are a kind of beacon. By making stories full of empathy and amusement and the sheer pleasure of discovering the world, these writers reassert the fact that we live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.

The entire culture was organized for people who are happy. People who are miserable need reassurance that other people are miserable.

I wish that someone had said to me that it's normal to feel lost for a little while.