My earliest memories of my father are of seeing him work at his desk and realizing that he was happy. I did not know it then, but that was one of the most precious gifts a father can give his child.

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?

We tell ourselves that skill is the precious resource and effort is the commodity. It's the other way around. Effort can trump ability-relentl ess effort is in fact something rarer than the ability to engage in some finely tuned act of motor coordination.

I'm totally engaging in cultural stereotyping, no question about it. But I think it's OK because I'm doing it for a reason, for a good reason.

Whenever we have something that we are good at--something we care about--that experience and passion fundamentally change the nature of our first impressions.

The difference between a crime of evil and a crime of illness is the difference between a sin and a symptom.

I don't really collect books. I tend to lose interest in them the minute I've read them, so most of the books I've read are left in airplanes and hotel rooms.