It's absurd how aspirants to designer-label colleges become obsessed with perfection so they can get into one. I'm not convinced it's worth prostituting yourself for that.

Being a good writer may result in your being nicer to more people, having a bigger positive impact.

I believe the personal essay is underrated for both writer and reader. It affords the writer great freedom: to speak personally yet invoke others' ideas, to be rational and/or emotional, to be confident or admit doubt.

I'm one of the many people for whom coffee helps but often, inattention is a symptom of something else: for example, that you're not getting six to eight hours of sleep.

If you have an ability, you want to exercise it, not anesthetize it.

We're in an era in which we want to believe people have roughly equal potential. IQ gives the lie to that.

Only someone who already knows and likes you is likely to give you a good job with modest relevant experience.