Adversity is a great teacher but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction and often the profit we derive is not worth the price we paid.

My parents were early converts to Christianity in my part of Nigeria. They were not just converts my father was an evangelist a religious teacher. He and my mother traveled for thirty-five years to different parts of Igboland spreading the gospel.

Nearly everyone I met worked with or read about was my teacher one way or another.

My formula for success is rise early work late and strike oil.

Success is the necessary misfortune of life but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early.

Am I coasting on some early success? Yeah. It was a good lucky break for me. But I would rather earn my way back again than simply conform to what people are expecting.

My own early experiences in war led me to suspect the value of discipline even in that sphere where it is so often regarded as the first essential for success.

Nearly all monster stories depend for their success on Jack killing the Giant Beowulf or St. George slaying the Dragon Harry Potter triumphing over the basilisk. That is their inner grammar and the whole shape of the story leads towards it.

Rockefeller once explained the secret of success. 'Get up early work late - and strike oil.'

Breast cancer deaths in America have been declining for more than a decade. Much of that success is due to early detection and better treatments for women. I strongly encourage women to get a mammogram.

Formula for success: rise early work hard strike oil.

It's funny because in drama school my greatest strength was my range. So my early career was like that: I played all kinds of different characters.

The legacy of Steve Jobs and the strength of Steve Jobs is that he established a company that's clearly firing on all cylinders and clicking very well.

There's a feeling that strength is determined by the size of a union. That clearly is nonsense.

In sports people reach their peak very early. You have to move on. I don't know if I will ever surpass what I did at the Olympics but I'm still doing the work I always wanted to do.

I never got into sports at all until I was in my early 20s after my music career got going.

I'll go out but I leave early before the shenanigans. I don't really do the Hollywood party thing. I'd rather watch sports or play videogames or work out or sleep to be totally honest.

Life magazine ran a page featuring me and three other girls that was clearly the precursor of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues.

I was showing early symptoms of becoming a professional baseball man. I was lying to the press.

The farther a society progresses the more clearly the individual becomes the antithesis of the group.

Police in China can do whatever they want after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don't have to obey their own laws. In a society like this there is no negotiation no discussion except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want - not only you your whole family and all people like you.

I understand why society especially American society is gravitating toward fairy tales given our economy. We've been exploring the world of witches and wizards for years. We've been exploring the world of vampires for years. Clearly the public - I mean I feel like all of this was ushered in by 'Harry Potter' - in my own fannish beliefs.

The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails they try to poison you. If this fails too the finish by loading honors on your head.

Society attacks early when the individual is helpless.