"Some part of my brain is fried in the mathematical department. I can’t retain numbers. If you tell me to be there at 9:30, I have to write it down because I remember 8:45 or 10:20. I can’t remember my phone numbers. I don’t know what eight times seven is. I’ve seen through the new occupational therapies how they isolate parts of the brain that are damaged. For me, it’s the whole abstract-number thing. But I can tell you a story about anything and remember it all."

"There’s a tremendous amount of power that comes from not having to say yes."