Scientists From Baltimore

"String theory is extremely attractive because gravity is forced upon us. All known consistent string theories include gravity, so while gravity is impossible in quantum field theory as we have known it, it is obligatory in string theory."

"Avoiding Procrastination: Doing things at the last minute is much more expensive than just before the last minute. Deadlines are really important: establish them yourself!"

"Delegation: No one is an island. You can accomplish a lot more with help."

"Turn money into time – especially important for people with kids."

"Eat and sleep and exercise. Above all else!"

"General Advice: Never break a promise, but re-negotiate them if need be. If you haven’t got time to do it right, you don’t have time to do it wrong. Recognize that most things are pass/fail. Feedback loops: ask in confidence."

"Coach Graham use to ride me hard . . . "you're doing it all wrong! Go back! Do it again!" An assistant coach muttered that it was a good thing Coach Graham rode me hard, because "when you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.""

"There's a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It's not something you can give; it's something they have to build. Coach Graham worked in a no-coddling zone. Self-esteem? He knew there was really only one way to teach kids how to develop it; You give them something they can't do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process."

"Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier."

"When told by a female colleague about how a girl can pick the right guy, she said . . . "When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.""

"As stated in the book, the First Penguin award went to students who went out on a limb and failed! This came "from the notion that when penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin." So, even if there are failures, it brings experience. Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer."

"I've always admired people who are over-prepared. In college, I had a classmate named Norman Meyrowitz. One day he was giving a presentation on an overhead projector" and the bulb subsequently went out. The class thought the presentation was over. "It's okay," Norm announced . . . and he went to his backpack and grabbed an extra bulb he brought with him."

"If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, "tell the truth." If I got three more words, I'd add: "All the time.""

"The questions are always more important than the answers.""

"You can always change your plan, but only if you have one..""

"A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.""

"Its important to have specific dreams. Dream Big. Dream without fear.""

"Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out.""

"It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit...and keep moving forward.""

"When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.""

"Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.""

"Look, I'm going to find a way to be happy, and I'd really love to be happy with you, but if I can't be happy with you, then I'll find a way to be happy without you.""

"The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have.""

"Never give up: There are certain times that you think, “OK, you have beaten me down to my knees. And now the challenge is, I am on my knees and you keep on beating me down. And the question is, are you going to keep beating me all the way to the ground or will I find a way to struggle my way back on to my feet.”"

"We all stand on the dart board and very few of us catch the darts. Do not think it is unfair. It is fair but you are unlucky."

"Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them."

"Treat the Disease, Not the Symptom."

"We don't beat the reaper by living longer, but by living well, and living fully — for the reaper will come for all of us. The question is: what do we do between the time we're born and the time he shows up. Because when he shows up, it’s too late to do all the things that you’re always gonna, kinda get around to."

"It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not. I assure you I've done a lot of really stupid things, and none of them bother me. All the mistakes, and all the dopey things, and all the times I was embarrassed — they don't matter. What matters is that I can kind of look back and say: Pretty much any time I got chance to do something cool I tried to grab for it — and that's where my solace comes from."

"You will need find your passion. Many of you have already done it, many of you will later, many of you may take to your thirties or forties, but don't give up on finding it. Right, then all you are doing is waiting for the reaper. Find your passion and follow it. And if there is anything that I have learned in life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric — and there will always be someone with more. Your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. And honors and awards are nice things, but only to the extent that they regard real respect from your peers. And to be thought of well by people you think of more highly up is a tremendous honor I've been granted. Find your passion, and in my experience, no matter what you do at work or what you do in in official settings, that passion will be grounded in people. It will be grounded in the relationships you have with people and what they think of you when your time comes."

"People are more important than things.""

"When you're eight or nine years old and you look at the TV set men are landing on the moon — anything is possible. And that is something we need to not lose sight of, is that the inspiration and permission to dream is immense. … It's important to have specific dreams."

"Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcomed."

"You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work."

"He said, when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up. And that’s a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care."

"When you’re only doing it for one play and you’re just not where you’re supposed to be, and freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, boy are you going to clean somebody’s clock for that one play."

"When you do something young enough and you train for it, it just becomes a part of you."

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

"Having been selected to be an author in the World Book, I now believe that Wikipedia is a perfectly fine source for your information, because I know what the quality control is for real encyclopedias — they let me in."

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!"

"Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you. He said, when you are pissed off at somebody, and you're angry at them, you just haven't given them enough time. Just give them a little more time — and they'll almost always impress you. And that really stuck with me. I think he's absolutely right on that one."

"It's very important to know when you're in a pissing match. And it's very important to get out of it as quickly as possible."

"What he said was: "You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere." And boy was that good advice. Because what he said was, you obviously don’t know where the bar should be, and you’re only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere."

"And I think that that’s one of the best things you can give somebody – the chance to show them what it feels like to make other people get excited and happy."

"And the course was all about bonding. People used to say, you know, what’s going to make for a good world? I said, I can’t tell you beforehand, but right before they present it I can tell you if the world’s good just by the body language. If they’re standing close to each other, the world is good."

"When you’ve had something for ten years that you hold so precious, it’s the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. And the only advice I can give you is, find somebody better than you to hand it to."

"The best gift an educator can give is to get someone to become self-reflective."

"The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else. I’ve done it my whole career. And the head fake here is that they’re learning to program but they just think they’re making movies and video games."

"Respect authority while questioning it."

"My dad was so full of life, anything with him was an adventure. [Shows picture of his Dad holding a brown paper bag] I don’t know what’s in that bag, but I know it’s cool. My dad dressed up as Santa Claus, but he also did very, very significant things to help lots of people. This is a dormitory in Thailand that my mom and dad underwrote. And every year about 30 students get to go to school who wouldn’t have otherwise. This is something my wife and I have also been involved in heavily. And these are the kind of things that I think everybody ought to be doing. Helping others."