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Elie Wiesel

Nobel Prize for Peace

Elie Wiesel: Equality in diversity. That no group should be superior in the American society than another. Second, generosity. The person who is fortunate --thanks to his or her talent or heritage, to have more than others -- that person should know that he or she owes something to others who are less fortunate. Third, that every minute can be the beginning or the end of an adventure.
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Lenny Wilkens

Basketball Hall of Fame

I grew up in a very staunch Roman Catholic family. My mother went to church every day, okay? And to Novenas on the weekends. I mean, she was there! And so, I'm probably a testament that prayer works because she was always praying for us. And, I became very close to a priest in the parish -- I was an altar boy, and he was the one that wrote to Providence College, talked to them about giving me a scholarship -- by the name of Tom Mannion. And we still stay in touch today and he would always encourage me in telling me that I could do this. I mean, I could achieve here. I mean, anything that I wanted to, I could. It was up to me, you know. And that reinforced what my mother said about not making excuses. You know, be accountable for who you are.
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Lenny Wilkens

Basketball Hall of Fame

Lenny Wilkens: The American Dream, to me, means having the opportunity to achieve, okay? Because I don't think you should be guaranteed anything other than the opportunity. I want you to let me fail or succeed, okay? And the thing that I tell young people, if you fail the first time that's just a chance to start over again so don't take it personally because it's like coming to a roadblock. If you can't go through it, find a way around it. Don't waste all your time banging your head against that. Move in another direction. So my philosophy becomes that I worry about the things I can affect, and the things I have no control over I move by.
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E.O. Wilson

Father of Sociobiology

No one ever becomes a general by joining the army at the end of the war. In other words, look for areas that are not yet opened up, and be a marathoner in a sense, or be prepared to run alone for a long period of time without anybody clapping or giving you any rewards for doing it, in order to be the first into a new area. It is probably the best way -- and certainly in the 21st Century -- of succeeding in science. But I learned a lesson in life when doing badly at distance running, and that was, I guess, humility. Whenever I feel I can fly by flapping my arms or anything, intellectually or any other way, I remember the long hard miles and hours and hours of trying that resulted in my discovery that I was hereditarily not going to be a good distance runner. I have to remind myself repeatedly, hereditarily, it is very likely you won't do very well in this or in that, don't move in that direction where you have doubt. Find out what you really love to do and where you might succeed. You don't have to be the very best, but move in that direction. Pick that field, and life will be a lot more satisfying.
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