People with dirty jobs are happier than you think. As a group, they're the happiest people I know.

We are lending money we don't have to kids who can't pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist. That's nuts.

Passion is too important to be without, but too fickle to be guided by. Which is why I’m more inclined to say, 'Don’t Follow Your Passion, But Always Bring it With You.'

Dirt used to be a badge of honor. Dirt used to look like work. But we've scrubbed the dirt off the face of work and consequently we've created this suspicion of anything that's too dirty.

The skills gap is a reflection of what we value. To close the gap, we need to change the way the country feels about work.

The flaw in our character is our insistence on separating blue-collar jobs from white-collar jobs, and encouraging one form of education over another.

I can say the willingness to get dirty has always defined us as an nation, and it's a hallmark of hard work and a hallmark of fun, and dirt is not the enemy.

Happiness comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that's consistent with those beliefs.

What you do, who you’re with, and how you feel about the world around you, is completely up to you.

Why does a chicken coop only have two doors? ... Because if it had four doors, it would be a chicken sedan.

I wouldn't wish any specific thing for any specific person - it's none of my business. But the idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane. It's insane.

Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.

Man was designed in a way in which he must eat in order to give him a solid reason to go to work everyday. This helps to keep him out of trouble. God is wise.

Loyalty is not loyalty unless one clings to it in the face of adversity.

I'm a believer in the benefits of translation. It's a necessity and a privilege - it would be awful to be limited to reading authors who's work was composed in the languages I happen to have learned.

I was really bummed when I got to the last one of Tony Hillerman Navajo detective books.

The intense perfumes of the wild herbs as we trod them underfoot made us feel almost drunk.

I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!

All democracies demand common public education because nothing makes people so much alike as the same education.

With my writing, I generally just pretend that no one's reading it. I allow myself that delusion so that I can write the things that I write.

In fact, in my adult lifetime, I don't think I've ever seen people as fearful economically as they are right now.