I think that one thing that people are missing is that we are never going to be able to fix this country's [American] economy in the long run until we fix our public education system.

We've lost our competitive spirit. We've become so obsessed with making kids feel good about themselves that we've lost sight of building the skills they need to actually be good at things.

That should be the goal, is that every kid in every neighborhood, despite whatever challenges they may face, are getting a great education in our public schools.

Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job.

We are always going to put the best interests of kids above the rights, privileges and priorities of adults.

If you grew up in a lower-income community, or less well-off, the belief is that the way to change that circumstance is through education.

An education reformer is as important in America as the first lady.

We all have to have more rigorous expectations of our kids in America.

I'd rather deal with anger than apathy.

Poverty is so significant that we can't expect to overcome the impacts of poverty in schools.

You may not do well, necessarily, up front, and in order to be the best, you've got to work hard.

I am not afraid of any god in the universe who would send me or any other man or woman to hell. If there were such a being, he would not be a god; he would be a devil.

Broke people giving financial advice is like a shop teacher with missing fingers.

Get your body out of the way and let your spirit soar!

Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat.

You don't have to believe that there was a King Arthur to get the significance of those stories, but Christians say we have to believe there was a Christ, or the miracles don't make sense.

Prig and philistine, Ph.D. and C.P.A., despot of English 218c and big shot of the Kiwanis Club-how much, at bottom, they both hate Art, and how hard it is to know which of them hates it the more.

The cultural differences between Germany and Nigeria were extreme. The way they dress, the way they carry themselves, their religion. For two years I was overwhelmed.

Opposites can attract, as in magnetism. Or explode, as in matter and antimatter.

If you're going to immerse yourself in a project for three years, why not stake out a chunk of the world that is completely alien to you and go traveling?

I think kids love superheroes, and the more you can crowd into a story, the more excited they get.