I got my Nobel Prize for my lab work.

I certainly saw science as a kind of calling, and one with as much legitimacy as a religious calling.

By the time I was 12 or 13, I was studying biochemistry textbooks.

I'm not easily inhibited by the fact that I don't know something about a subject. It doesn't stop me from dabbling in it.

Life's a hobby.

I think we have to believe we are here for some purpose, and I know there are many cynics who will deny it, but they don't live as if they deny it.

I have many shortcomings. I feel very lucky to have been able to have what I've had.

I was reading five or six years ahead of my grade during public school. I was pretty bored. I made a contract with some of my teachers that if I didn't ask too many questions, I could work in the back of the room.

I believe I am a person with unusual talents. I think I'd be a liar or stupid if I were to deny that.

Being successful at a very young age gave me the confidence and the capability to try out other things.

I get curious about new things. My real strength is going into a field that has not been investigated before, and finding new approaches to it.

I did get a very fine education, and not just in science. It took some pressure on the part of my elders to convince me that I really should take an interest in humanities.

I did get a very fine education, and not just in science. It took some pressure on the part of my elders to convince me that I really should take an interest in humanities.

Legislatures not driven to desperation by the problems of public education may be able to see the threat in vouchers negotiable in sectarian schools.

Homeschoolers are the ultimate do-it-yourselfers. They are self-motivated and self-directed, independent-minded and creative. They are not content to turn their education of their children over to the government.

People have to take control of their own lives. Education is key because it also raises other social indicators like healthcare.

Online education that leaves almost everybody behind except for highly motivated students, to me, can't be a viable path to education.

In the long run, we need to build a leadership force of people. We have a whole strategy around not only providing folks with the foundational experience during their two years with us, but also then accelerating their leadership in ways that is strategic for the broader education reform movement.

Investing in science education and curiosity-driven research is investing in the future.

In many spheres of human endeavor, from science to business to education to economic policy, good decisions depend on good measurement.