“Don’t go to eighth grade…don’t talk about something old…don’t bring up old memories that have nothing to do with who we are now. THIS is all that matters! TODAY.”

Today, I don’t believe in destiny. But I do believe in history…There’s nothing more powerful than history.

There is no better place to plot the death of a character than when you’re miserable and working out.

I tend to do something for two years then move on to something new. Yoga, then biking, then weight lifting, then back to biking. The moment it feels like a rut, I switch and search for a new love. It’s like having a midlife crisis, but without the new wife or cheesy BMW.

Women are not weaker. Read that again. Women are not weaker. They are just as strong, just as resolute, just as creative, and are filled with just as much potential as any man.

No amount of reading or memorizing will make you successful in life. It is the understanding and application of wise thought which counts.

I love when I teach my son a good lesson. But I love it even more when he teaches me.

Here’s what I love: I love sitting at my desk, staring at the blank screen, and beginning that conversation with my imaginary friends.

When you believe in something, fight for it. And when you see injustice, fight harder than you’ve ever fought before.

Tell your story. That’s the secret of immortality. The one true way to live forever.

But to me, the most important page in my daughter’s book is the last one – because it’s blank. It says, “Your Hero’s Photo Here,” and, “Your Hero’s Story Here.”

Every life has forks in the road. And sometimes, the tines of that fork stab deep.

My worst moments as a parent have been much like my greatest moments as a parent: the product of complete and perfect accident.

As I tell my daughter, when you want something in life – no matter how impossible it seems – you need to fight for it.

Haven’t you ever played Uno?… Sometimes you have to lose all your cards to win.

Sharing education, sharing a book…that’s what changes the world.

You tell them – you tell them there’s a cost…..Every decision we make in life, there’s always a cost.

It wasn’t until sixth grade, at P.S. 168, when my teacher took us on a field trip to her house that I realized we were poor.

I was a really good student. In the sixth grade, I was reading at a twelfth grade reading level. But I got bored.

A crowd of grade-three thinkers, all shouting the same thing, all warming their hands at the fire of their own prejudices, will not thank you for pointing out the contradictions in their beliefs. Man is a gregarious animal, and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way on the side of a hill.

I’ve been musically inclined since I picked up an instrument in the fourth grade. I just really appreciate music.

I was a big baseball player, and my passion in life, in third grade, was collecting baseball cards. That was my childhood thing.

Ever since third grade, I had a notebook and was putting together words just for fun.

How can any one paint who cannot grade colors? How can any one write poetry who has not learnt to hear and see?

I bought an electric scooter in sixth grade. Bankrupted me.