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There is this tremendous body of knowledge in the world of academia where extraordinary numbers of incredibly thoughtful people have taken the time to examine on a really profound level the way we live our lives and who we are and where we've been. That brilliant learning sometimes gets trapped in academia and never sees the light of day.

I had been an academic all my life. As academics, you tend to believe the smartest people are in academia.

I've always maintained that I see myself as a student. There's always something to learn and be challenged by and hopefully grow from.

As technology breaks down the physical barriers of college campuses, the extraordinary intellectual capital of the educator community is becoming available to anyone committed to learning - regardless of age, income or location.

Though I have friends aplenty in academia, I don't operate within the academic system myself.

Highly educated young people are tutored, taught and monitored in all aspects of their lives, except the most important, which is character building. When it comes to this, most universities leave them alone.

Academics act like they are important, but when something is academic it is meaningless. People say, 'It's academic, now let's get work done.'

Anyone can be self-educated if they find the loose end of something to care about passionately.

Academicians get nowhere.

Too many years away from academia renders you pretty incompetent at research and teaching. So I had to go back.