Shortly after the birth control pill was approved for public distribution, one woman wrote to John Rock, its inventor, "You should be afraid to meet your maker." Rock, despite being Catholic replied, "My dear Madam, in my faith, we are taught that the Lord is with us always. When my time comes, there will be no need for introductions."

Flom had the same experience...He didn't triumph over adversity. Instead, what started out as adversity ended up being an opportunity.

Consistency is the most overrated of all human virtues... I'm someone who changes his mind all the time.

Activism that challenges the status quo, that attacks deeply rooted problems, is not for the faint of heart.

There will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World. There's a reasonable shot that - because of his money - we will cure malaria.

There are moments, particularly in times of stress, when haste does not make waste, when our snap judgments and first impressions can offer a much better means of making sense of the world.

I think that persistence and stubbornness and hard work are probably, at the end of the day, more important than the willingness to take a risk.