Gratitude

I wish there was a way to know you're in the good ol' days before you've actually left them. Good ol' days are marked by relatively high levels of foolishness. Case in point: college.

That incomparable feeling is what happens when you do the right thing.

Real happiness has very much to do with our emotion, not money. Everybody wants a happy life, happy family, happy community. So please pay some attention about our inner value.

Remember the Holland in your life. When you've ascended these great heights and done these great things, go back and find that person and say, 'I've come a long way in life and I just wanted to tell you that you had something to do with that.'

Always look on the bright side of life.

A meritocracy is a system in which the people who are the luckiest in their health and genetic endowment, luckiest in terms of family support, encouragement, and probably income, luckiest in their educational and career opportunities — those are the folks who reap the largest rewards.

Imagine yourself in 50 years. You're in your early 70s, near the end of your career. You start to reflect on your life and think of all the things you wished you had done differently. And just while that's happening, a genie appears and gives you a second chance. You blink your eyes and find yourself right here, right now. The genie was serious.

Sometimes your highest pay isn't money. Wisdom is another name for humility.

We do not think of our lives in a linear way. We remember series of moments — memorable moments — and together these moments make up the meshwork of our lives. Make each moment count.

Don't be deceived by life's outcomes. Life's outcomes, while not entirely random, have a huge amount of luck baked into them. Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck — and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt to the unlucky.

In time you will find it easy to assume that you deserve the extra cookie. For all I know, you may. But you'll be happier, and the world will be better off, if you at least pretend that you don't.

We have each other to lean on for encouragement. We have our beloved teachers to call on for advice. And we have our parents to count on to pick us up whenever we fall.