Academe, n.: An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught. Academy, n.: A modern school where football is taught.

Education, n.: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.

Philosophy: A route of many roads leading from nowhere to nothing.

Learning, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious.

To buy happiness is to sell soul.

I'm no Buddhist monk, and I can't say I'm in love with renunciation in itself, or traveling an hour or more to print out an article I've written, or missing out on the N.B.A. Finals. But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn't want or need, not all I did.

People create from different places. Some love to create from a tortured place, some from a joyful place. And when I feel like I'm a 5-year-old kid in my backyard playing pretend, that's when I'm happiest.

The groundwork of all happiness is health.