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Maya Angelou
Poet and Historian
Maya Angelou: The music of the "I Have a Dream" speech is a replication of the music which comes out of the mouths of the African American preacher. Preacher, singer, blues singer, jazz singer, rap person, it is so catching, so hypnotic, so wonderful that, as a poet, I continue to try to catch it, to catch the music. If I can catch the music and have the content as well, then I have the ear of the public. And I know that's what Martin Luther King was able to do, not just in the "I Have a Dream" speech -- although that has become a kind of poem which is used around the world -- but in everything he said there was the black Southern Baptist or Methodist preacher, singing his song, telling our story -- not just black American story either, but telling the human story. And as a poet, if I can replicate that, I am okay, Jack.
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Maya Angelou
Poet and Historian
There is a Zen story about a man who studied with a master, or mistress, for a while, and told the master, "I want the truth." And the master said, "All right." And he lived with him, and he sent him out and he cut trees. He said, "Now, cut trees for a while." So the fellow cut trees for about six or eight months. And he finally said to the master, "I've been asking you for the truth." He said, "Oh, that's right." And he said, "You haven't told me anything." He said, "That's right." So he said, "Now, go out and turn all those trees into charcoal." So he did that for about six months, and the man never spoke to him. Finally, at the end, he said, "Listen, master, I'm leaving you. I told you I wanted the truth." The master said, "Let me walk with you a way." He walked with him till they came over a bridge. Under it, there was rushing water. The master gave him a shove. He went over. The guy went down once. He said, "I can't swim!" Down again, "I can't swim!" The third time, the master pulled him up onto the side, and said, "Now, when you want truth the same way you wanted that breath of air, you've already got it."
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Robert Ballard
Discoverer of the Titanic
The real thing that got me, when the goose bumps were having goose bumps, was after we fixed the submarine and came down on the second dive. That's when we made love. Because we came in on the bow and landed, and it was clunk, clunk. It was like Armstrong on the moon. And you took on the ten-degree list of the Titanic. It was listing to the starboard, and you listed. You just sat there. "We are on... the... deck of the Titanic. Oh my God!" And you just looked out the windows and just looked at it.
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Robert Ballard
Discoverer of the Titanic
I used to love to go down to tidal pools. What an adventure a tidal pool is! The tide comes in, covers the rocks, and then it goes away, and it traps life from the sea, and they can't get away. It's like a nature-made aquarium. You look around and there's fish, crabs and all sorts of things. Then they get washed away and in twelve hours there will be a new aquarium. I loved tidal pools. I also loved the tide, when it would come in, and you'd find adventure washed up on your shore. Like a Robinson Crusoe walking along, and seeing a float that had come from Japan, that had crossed the Pacific Ocean, a third of our planet, and just washed up at your feet. It was so exciting, I couldn't wait to go and walk the tide line and see what treasures were waiting for me.
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Sir Roger Bannister
Track and Field Legend
Sir Roger Bannister: I was always a great bundle of energy. As a child, instead of walking, I would run. And so running, which is a pain to a lot of people, was always a pleasure to me because it was so easy. I wanted to have some success. I came from such a simple origin, without any great privilege, and I would say I also wanted to make a mark. It wasn't, I suppose, until I was about 15 that I appeared in a race. I was playing rugby and the other games English school children do, and there was an event which was planned in which races were run, and I simply just won these by a considerable margin. So, everybody thought I was just rather special.
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Sir Roger Bannister
Track and Field Legend
Medicine is complex. Indescribably difficult. It involves collaboration. There aren't lonely peaks. I mean, there are Nobel Laureates who work on one particular subject in isolation and are so clever that they are able to perceive what others cannot. And I was, of course, not that kind of a scientist, and clinical medicine is not like that, and I knew this. I knew it, and I chose it, because I felt that the capacity to apply yourself to be alert to new developments, and to be prepared to spend the time writing papers, would lead to a fascinating life in which a reputation would be created for hard work, for -- one hopes -- kindness and effectiveness in dealing with patients and clinical problems, and then ultimately the kind of problems of organizing medical committees and having a responsibility thrust upon one by colleagues who wished one to undertake particular duties of this kind.
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