Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning.

It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It’s the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it’s the biggest nine- and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage.

Anyone who has ever scanned the bookshelves of a new girlfriend or boyfriend- or peeked inside his or her medicine cabinet- understands this implicitly; you can learn as much - or more - from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to a public face.

There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find them.

We vary greatly in the natural advantages that we've been given. The world's not fair

What does it say about a society that it devotes more care and patience to the selection of those who handle its money than of those who handle its children?

If you're in business it's both a promise and a warning. It says that sometimes little things can cause some little guy to have an overnight success.