If you’re going to have childhood dreams you should have great parents who let you pursue them and express your creativity

To be cliché, death is a part of life and it's going to happen to all of us. I have the blessing of getting a little bit of advance notice and I am able to optimize my use of time down the home stretch.

Look for the best in everybody

I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children. If I were a painter, I would have painted for them. If I were a musician, I would have composed music. But I am a lecturer. So I lectured.

until you got ice cream spilled on you, you’re not doing field work

Better to fail spectacularly than do something mediocre.

If you can find your footing between two cultures, sometimes you can have the best of both worlds.