Man wonders but God decides When to kill the Prince of Tides.

To describe our growing up in the lowcountry of South Carolina, I would have to take you to the marsh on a spring day, flush the great blue heron from its silent occupation, scatter marsh hens as we sink to our knees in mud, open an oyster with a pocketknife and feed it to you from the shell and say, 'There. That taste. That's the taste of my childhood.'

The University of South Carolina has always played a role in my life and the intellectual life of South Carolina.

Every industry is going to be affected (by the aging population). This creates tremendous opportunities and tremendous challenges.

The pursuit of greatness means that laziness has no place in your life.

…Then another porpoise broke the water and rolled toward us. A third and fourth porpoise neared. The visitation was something so rare and perfect that we knew by instinct not to speak—and then as quickly as they had come, the porpoises moved away from us…Each of us would remember that all during our lives. It was the purest moment of freedom and headlong exhilaration that I had ever felt. A wordless covenant was set, and I would go back in my imagination, and return to where happiness seemed so easy to touch.

College was to teach me that I was one of life's journeymen, eager to excel but lacking the requisite gifts.