In a world of growing food demand, Africa is home to two-thirds of the world's unexploited arable land.

If you are African, the more educated you are, the less chances you have of getting a job.

Nobody messes with China, nobody messes with the United States, or with Europe, because these are really big entities with a lot of clout and a lot of economic power. They have a place at the table.

You fly for hours and hours and hours over Africa to go from one place to another.

It was a way out of poverty. It was a way to success. It was a way to education. And it was a way to a brighter day for me.

It's tempting to say the Ph.D. didn't have an effect, but it's not so. I think whatever resonance I may be able to achieve is in part simply from the amount of reading and learning that I acquired along the way.

Now that I'm taking some time off from school, I've been reading a lot to make sure I don't forget everything. It's mostly classics and nonfiction accounts from actors, directors and writers from the '40s and '50s.

Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn.