I think one of the problems [with raising intelligent children] is compulsory schooling...and that children are sitting there and they are taught and told what to believe. They are passive from the very beginning, and one must be very, very aggressive intellectually to have a high IQ [...] the child is taught. Right from the beginning, it's a passive process. He or she sits there, and they simply try to believe everything they're told.

Know how to travel from your town to a nearby town without a car, either by bus or by rail.

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

The magnitude of an action may change not only the strength of its impact, but the direction. If you became a dentist, for example, you would certainly be an asset to our society. But what if everyone became a dentist? Who would bake the bread? Who would build the houses?

[When asked if the voice is an instrument:] Yes, of course. Some are violins, some are fountain pens and some are stethoscopes. And others are just washboards.

Be able to recognize the dangerous snakes, spiders, insects, and plants that live in your area of the country.

Skill is successfully walking a tightrope between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Intelligence is not trying.