If you want creative and successful children, resign yourself to jousting with rebels.

So long as you believe in some truth you do not believe in yourself. You are a servant. A man of faith.

There are few professions whose primary objective is to advance the cause of humanity rather than simply to make money or accrue power. Among this limited group of humanitarians I would number teachers, nurses, bookstore owners, and bartenders.

Certain types of decisions can be safely ignored. Some issues will go away with the passage of time, others will be so slow developing that the decision-makers will depart before the results of their neglect becomes manifest. Which brings us to the environment.

When things go wrong, the standard management strategy is to decide who takes the blame. This should be an underling, as far down the chain as possible, but preferably with some visibility so people know management means business.

Don't assume that a species is intelligent because it produces intelligent individuals.

All of the important things ... will turn out to be universally shared. It's why there will be no true aliens.