“Being a teacher is back-breakingly difficult work. It is also extremely important work.”

“Being superintendent or the superintendent's chief of staff is important work, but there's no chance it's as difficult as being a teacher, and I hesitate to say that it's as important.”

“In shuttering Yucca Mountain, Obama makes it extremely likely that nuclear power in the United States will continue its long, slow, and extremely welcome death.”

“Conservatives often say that we should care not about equality of outcomes but about equality of opportunity.”

“Republican presidents talk about freedom. Democratic presidents talk about equality.”

“The pathological degree to which former Vice President Dick Cheney operated in secrecy led to government abuses that we'll probably spend years learning about.”

“The land of easy mathematics where he who works adds up and he who retires subtracts.”

“At the age of 45, most days in Tucson were spent feeling like I was on the summit of Mauna Kea, as I was exhibiting debilitating health symptoms that corresponded to what I saw at very high altitud...”

“The hour is only long thus, if you've waited.”

“If I paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse... but surely you will see the wildness!”

“He who looks through an open window sees fewer things than he who looks through a closed window.”

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision.”

“Some of the greatest journeys of humankind are those that, at the time being, only the one living it understands.”

“The greatest success is how much impact was made”

“The greatest policy is where there are no policies!”