"It's far too much to say that effective hoping is the only - or even the biggest - part of what it takes to succeed. If 14% of business productivity can be attributed to hope, that means 86% is dependent on raw talent, fickle business cycles, the quality of the product you're selling, and often pure, dumb luck."

"More and more NFL players have been willing their bodies to science so that their brains can be studied even if they die of other causes."

"Toxins love to get you while you're young. Lead, mercury, secondhand smoke and sundry other environmental nasties do a lot more damage when tissue is immature, vulnerable and growing than when it's mature and comparatively fixed."

"The families of many athletes - incensed at the sports leagues and hoping to make games safer overall - are increasingly making the brains of players who die prematurely and suspiciously available for study. Some athletes are even making the bequest themselves."

"Kindness is the invisible thread that binds all kindred spirits together. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Wisdom is the quiet art of recognizing what can be changed and releasing what cannot. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Every season of life has its own unique blossom, if only we take care to notice. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"It is a quiet truth that a steadfast commander remains calm when the storm rages fiercest."