Losing both parents at a young age gave me a sense that you can't really control life - so you'd better live it while it's here. I stopped believing in a storybook existence a long time ago. All you can do is push in a direction and see what comes of it.

Old age is not a disease - it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses.

I was a very sickly kid. While I was in the hospital at age 7, my Dad brought me a stack of comic books to keep me occupied. I was hooked.

Study until twenty-five, investigation until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would have him retired on a double allowance.

In the digital age of 'overnight' success stories such as Facebook, the hard slog is easily overlooked.