We are growing up. We are growing up! Out of the idiocies - the ignorances of racism and sexism and ageism and all those ignorances.

Never, never let a person know you're frightened. And a group of them ... absolutely never. Fear brings out the worst in everybody.

The question is not how to survive, but how to thrive with passion, compassion, humor and style.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

Even here in America, we felt the cool, refreshing breeze of freedom when Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency in his country where formerly he was not even allowed to vote. We were enlarged by tears of pride as we saw Nelson Mandela's former prison guards invited, courteously, by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration.

There are some nights when sleep plays coy, aloof and disdainful. And all the wiles that I employ to win its service to my side are useless as wounded pride, and much more painful.

Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity.