He'd always had a quickening of the heart when he crossed into Arizona and beheld the cactus country. This was as the desert should be, this was the desert of the picture books, with the land unrolled to the farthest distant horizon hills, with saguaro standing sentinel in their strange chessboard pattern, towering supinely above the fans of ocotillo and brushy mesquite.

But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful.

The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams and aspirations he sets not only for himself, but for his family.

Teamwork is the ability to work as a group toward a common vision, even if that vision becomes extremely blurry.

Before you judge someone, walk a mile in his shoes.

A friend is someone you can call at any hour to laugh or cry or complain.

Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.