I began my career as an economics professor but became frustrated because the economic theories I taught in the classroom didn't have any meaning in the lives of poor people I saw all around me. I decided to turn away from the textbooks and discover ...
At 16, when I was at Henry M. Gunn High School, I had a crush on the English teacher, and my grades improved dramatically. This great school had only 400 students, mostly children of Stanford professors, and it was more usual to have classes under on...
I prefer to call the most obnoxious feminists what they really are: feminazis. Tom Hazlett, a good friend who is an esteemed and highly regarded professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, coined the term to describe any female w...
Of course having a baby derails the writing process for some time. And I will be the first to say that I have essentially no social life, because there's just nothing left after being a mom, professor, and writer. I used to be big into rock climbing....
My first Kickstarter project created a book called 'Clear and Present Thinking', a college-level textbook on logic and critical reasoning, which was made available to the world for free. As a professor myself, I observed that the price of textbooks w...
At MIT, in Professor Rodney Brooks' lab, I was involved in a project, led by Anita Flynn, to build robots using techniques similar to those used in building silicon chips. We got some silicon micro-machined motors to move a bit, but this didn't lead ...
One of my professors in college used to say As the wise man said, Do or do not, there is no try, but the advice columns generally say the opposite. If someone promises to try, and you're happy with that, don't push. It can backfire. You can get yours...
I think judicial temperament is a willingness to step back from your own committed views of the correct jurisprudential approach and evaluate those views in terms of your role as a judge. It's the difference between being a judge and being a law prof...
Although professors regard improving critical thinking as the most important goal of college, tests reveal that seniors who began their studies with average critical thinking skills have progressed only from the 50th percentile of entering freshmen t...
I didn't want to become a professor or get tenure or teach or anything. All I wanted to do was get a degree because Louis Leakey said I needed one, which was right, and once I succeeded I could get back to the field.
Klaatu: You have faith, Professor Barnhardt? Barnhardt: It isn't faith that makes good science, Mr. Klaatu, it's curiosity. Sit down, please. There are several thousand questions I'd like to ask you.
Harry Potter: Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head? Professor Albus Dumbledore: Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
Professor Severus Snape: For myself and a few select members of staff, this news comes as little surprise. We have for some time now considered Mr. Potter's return to Hogwarts as not merely possible, not inevitable.
[referring to Professor Moody] Ron: Brilliant, isn't he? Completely demented, of course. Terrifying to be in the same room with him. But he's really been there, you know? He's looked evil in the eye! Hermione: [darkly] There's a reason those curses a...
Argus Filch: [Holding Malfoy] Professor Slughorn, sir. I've just discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to be invited to your party. Draco Malfoy: Ok! Ok! I was gate crashing. Happy?
Horace Slughorn: [in regard to returning to Hogwarts] All right, I'll do it! But I want Professor Merrythought's office, not that water closet I had before. And I want a raise, these are mad times we live in. MAD!
[Henry, struggling with a Nazi for a gun, uses his fountain pen to blind the Nazi] Marcus Brody: Henry, the pen. Professor Henry Jones: What? Marcus Brody: Well don't you see? The pen is mightier than the sword.
Professor Henry Jones: [to Indy] Well, I didn't trust her. Why did you? Walter Donovan: Because he didn't take my advice. Didn't I tell you not to trust anyone, Dr. Jones?
Professor Henry Jones: I misjudged you, Walter. I knew you would sell your mother for an Etruscan vase. But I didn't know you would sell out your country and your soul... to the slime of humanity.
[Indy and his father have boarded the airship] Indiana Jones: Well, we made it! Professor Henry Jones: [looking out from behind his newspaper] When we are airborne, with Germany behind us, *then* I will share that sentiment!
Indiana Jones: [Looking through his binoculars and seeing a tank] 12 pound gun. Professor Henry Jones: What are you doing? Get down. Indiana Jones: Dad, we're well out of range. [the tanks fires on them]
