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Key to success: Vision Key to success: Passion Key to success: Perseverance Key to success: Preparation Key to success: Courage Key to success: Integrity Key to success: The American Dream Keys to success homepage More quotes on Passion More quotes on Vision More quotes on Courage More quotes on Integrity More quotes on Preparation More quotes on Perseverance More quotes on The American Dream


Story Musgrave, Dean of American Astronauts

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Story Musgrave

Dean of American Astronauts

It started of course with rediscovering America and the frontier. And wide open spaces and pushing on out there to new territories and exploration, up and down. Exploration, it's just going beyond. It's going from the known to the unknown, the familiar to the unfamiliar. Getting out of the comfortable path. Just pushing on, I think that's what exploration is all about. Just going beyond the point at which you are now. Whether it's physically taking a body out there, or pressing on to new realms of science, or new realms of human performance, such as the arts, or athletics.
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Story Musgrave, Dean of American Astronauts

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Story Musgrave

Dean of American Astronauts

Story Musgrave: We have been a frontier culture. We were born out of exploration, we were born out of adventure. We were born out of the plains and the mountains. We've been a very physical kind of culture. And so, if you look at adventure, if you look at exploration, if you look at immersion in nature, a physical culture, and all those things, you can see directly how space flight relates to the way America has been born and how it evolved.
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Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader

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Ralph Nader

Consumer Crusader

Ralph Nader: A good citizen is not just a person who votes all the time. A good citizen works between elections to take on an injustice, or participate in a local, state, or national institutions. Whether it's the schools, or the town meetings, or whether it's a national citizen group to reform government or improve the campaign finance mess -- there are roles for citizens.
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Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader

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Ralph Nader

Consumer Crusader

The Constitution is not just a parchment to be saluted on the Fourth of July. It's a document that gives you living rights and responsibilities which we should take hold of. Because democracy is like a coral reef; it's built up little by little by little. You look at it, and it looks so beautiful, but the reverse is true, too. It deteriorates little by little. When you don't stand up to someone who is abridging your rights, when you don't report someone who is violating the norms or the laws of the community -- and I'm not just talking about burglaries or vandalism, I'm talking about someone who basically coerces people against their Constitutional rights -- if you don't do that, next time, more of these misbehaving people are going to say, "We can get away with it. We got away with it last month, we can move even deeper into eroding people's rights." So it's important for young people to grow up learning their rights because if you don't know your rights, how are you going to use your rights? As my parents said, "If you don't use your rights, you are eventually going to lose your rights."
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Antonia Novello, Former Surgeon General of the United States

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Antonia Novello

Former Surgeon General of the United States

The American dream continues because every time that I speak, somebody believes that they can be me. Little kid, little island, a good pushy mother we all have, almost a mother that took care of you alone. Twenty-five percent of our population do that, single mothers taking care of their kids. But, more important, not rich, not poor -- normal American citizen making it to the top without political connections. Now the kids want to be somebody. And when they look at the Surgeon General of 1990, it's feasibly possible that they can be me. Not for what I have accomplished, but because of the life that I lived that is equal to so many out there. And I'm someone that they can touch and say, "Hey, she did it. Absolutely. I can too."
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Antonia Novello, Former Surgeon General of the United States

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Antonia Novello

Former Surgeon General of the United States

If you do not know where you're going, you are already there. The second thing is the world owes you nothing. To believe that the world will get you everything you want because you're a good kid and you studied is like believing that a bull is not going to hit you because you're a vegetarian. So, you must be able to do good. The third one is take a stand and believe in something. And those were the words of Goethe. Goethe said, "The hottest space in hell will be saved for those that during the time of conflict decided to stay neutral." So take a stand. But the most important one is number four, which is what has been said many times by some members of the academy. Service is the rent you pay for living, and that service is what sets you apart. Service to God, to the country, to the community, and to yourself. But most importantly, service. So, when you do all those four, absolutely the American dream will be found, and you will be part of it.
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