Heroism often results as a response to extreme events.

Metaphor lives a secret life all around us. We utter about six metaphors a minute. Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand ourselves and others, how we communicate and learn, discover and invent.

In the margin for error lies all our room for maneuver.

Advice is given freely because so much of it is worthless.

Sometimes, you need a door slammed in your face before you can hear opportunity knock.

You only really discover the strength of your spine when your back is against the wall.

London always reminds me of a brain. It is similarly convoluted and circuitous. A lot of cities, especially American ones like New York and Chicago, are laid out in straight lines. Like the circuits on computer chips, there are a lot of right angles in cities like this. But London is a glorious mess. It evolved from a score or so of distinct villages, that merged and meshed as their boundaries enlarged. As a result, London is a labyrinth, full of turnings and twistings just like a brain.