"For all my success with the Ramones, I carried around fury and intensity during my career. I had an image, and that image was anger. I was the one who was always scowling, downcast. I tried to make sure I looked like that when I was getting my picture taken."

"I'd worked in the state senate in college and seen how important legal decisions were. And at the last minute, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said, 'Why don't you come do an internship?' That turned into almost 15 years in the government, in the White House, and at the State Department."

"Life isn't all about how rich, 'successful' or even intelligent you are, it's all about what impact(s): you've made; you're making or that which is glaringly evident you are going to make."

"I studied the lives of great men and famous women and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work."

"There's a lot of potential that goes unused in places like South Central L.A., a lot of brilliant, smart people who just don't have that chance to show it."

"The journey towards success is more like a traveller lost in a desert, desperate to find an oasis, desperate to quench his thirst. But it is not about how grave the thirst is but about how long he chooses to walk thirsty."

"Robust systems have a dynamic hierarchy of nested behaviors. How many moves ahead are you able to think when playing chess? How much effort are you willing to commit to understanding the deeply nuanced structure? Probably, success is not what you think it is. Adventures require novelty. Value has interesting surprises."