What we do as a community, as a society, for each other, matters as much as what we do for ourselves. It sounds a little trite, but there's a powerful amount of truth in that, I think.

Performance ought to improve with experience, and pressure is an obstacle that the diligent can overcome.

In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.

..... it would be interesting to find out what goes on in that moment when someone looks at you and draws all sorts of conclusions.

If everyone has to think outside the box, maybe it is the box that needs fixing.

If you want to bring a fundamental change in people's belief and behavior...you need to create a community around them, where those new beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured.

We cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don't matter at all.