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James Michener
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist
That night, I could not sleep, and I went out on that airstrip on Tontouta. I'll never forget it, about eighteen miles north of where our headquarters was, Noumea. And I walked along the airstrip, and that's when the war hit me, and that's when the phenomenon I spoke of before hit me. I said, "When this is over, I'm not going to be the same guy. I am going to live as if I were a great man." I never said I was going to be a great man because I had no idea what my capacities were. I had no great confidence; nothing in my background gave me a reason to think so. But I was not forestalled from acting as if I were. That is, deal with big subjects.
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James Michener
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist
Associate with people who are brighter than you are. Grapple with the problems of your time. And it was as clear to me as if a voice were telling me to do this: "This is the choosing up point, kiddo. from here on." I had no idea that life was as short as it is. That concept comes very late in any human life, I think. I thought life was immeasurable, extensive to the horizon and beyond. But I did know that my capacities were not unlimited. I had only so much to spend, and let's do it in a big way. And I think that was all the difference.
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George Mitchell
Presidential Medal of Freedom
One of my older brothers, Johnny, was a very famous athlete and went on to great exploits in college. For years, I was introduced as Johnny Mitchell's kid brother, the one who wasn't any good. So I developed very early a massive inferiority complex, and I've told the story often about how that inspired me later in life to get involved in other things, because I couldn't out-do my brothers in sports, and it's a very competitive relationship. So I got into politics, thinking that I might become mayor of our home town someday.
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George Mitchell
Presidential Medal of Freedom
George Mitchell: I was asked to go to the Middle East by Prime Minister Barak, Chairman Arafat, and President Clinton, and chaired an international commission there. The report which we gave to President Bush just about a year ago is one of the few things that the Israelis and Palestinians agreed on, at least rhetorically. President Bush has adopted it as a basis of U.S. policy in the Middle East. But our feeling of surprise and elation at the positive response by the Israelis and Palestinians has created an extra special discouragement at the failure to implement the recommendations in our plan.
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Mario Molina
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Mario Molina: In order to really pursue research -- if you want to -- in order to really find new things, you have to be very motivated, and I was. Just having had experiences with discoveries, even things that had been discovered previously, but finding out for myself, for the first time, how something works, is really an enormous driving force. So to me it was, well, really liking very much what I was doing. And eventually, I saw an evolution in this passion to do science, that at the same time it could be something valuable for society. So there's no conflict in this. To me, it was marvelous just to realize that I could actually be doing the things I like and at the same time getting paid for it and earn a living that way. But even once one step beyond, that this knowledge that one can acquire through research could actually benefit society. Of course, science itself is not good or bad. It can be misused, but developing the proper responsibility to society and so on, I could see ways in which one can actually use this knowledge to benefit the people around.
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