To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success...with a society that provides opportunities for all.

The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.

We don't know where our first impressions come from or precisely what they mean, so we don't always appreciate their fragility.

The great accomplishment of Jobs's life is how effectively he put his idiosyncrasies - his petulance, his narcissism, and his rudeness - in the service of perfection.

If everyone has to think outside the box, maybe it is the box that needs fixing.

The successful are those who have been given opportunities.

An aggressive drug-testing program would cut down on certain abuses, but its never going to catch everyone - or even close to everyone.

There will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World. There's a reasonable shot that - because of his money - we will cure malaria.

Outlier are those who have been given opportunities-- -and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.

When you're an underdog, you're forced to try things you would never otherwise have attempted.

If we are to learn to improve the quality of the decisions we make, we need to accept the mysterious nature of our snap judgments.

I feel so blessed to be alive and so blessed to have to have a father that loves me no matter how much wrong I do in this world.

Cling to the good.

I believe that when I am dead, I am dead. I believe that with my death I am just as much obliterated as the last mosquito you and I squashed.(from Who's Who in Hell)

People do things which I find quite amazing - things I would never have done and can't understand very well.

My brother David was a great athlete and I knew there was no way I could live up to that.

Because I am female, I’m expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important.

You forge different bonds with friends than with family, tell different secrets.

Possession of a secret is no guarantee of its truth.

Young writers only take off when they find their subjects. Since almost everyone has a family and stories about family, that is often a place to start.

American agriculture is badly in need of diversity. Another threat to the food system of course is the likelihood that petroleum is not going to get any cheaper.