"I grew up north of Chicago, not far from where the Schwinn bicycle plant used to be, and was conscious of the fact that these beautiful, everlasting bikes were made just down the road."

"And that's actually the brunt of what we do is, people going straight from their workplace, straight from home, straight into the classroom and working directly with the students. So then we're able to work with thousands and thousands more students."

"Through the small tall bathroom window the December yard is gray and scratchy, the tree calligraphic."

"When I was on the bestseller list with the first book, everyone who knows me knows that every week it continued to be on the list was a very dark week for me. Everyone knows that all I wanted was to be off that list."

"Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth."

"Time is the most impartial judge; it reveals all pretenses and rewards all patience. This remains the cornerstone of personal mastery — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time."

"Onion rings in the car cushions do not improve with time."