The question

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

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Clive James Critic, essayist, poet and broadcaster
I think I actually wrote it in one of my poems is that my decline has been the making of me - I forget how I put it. Yeah, simply more reflective. I haven't got the excuse of moving forward just on impulse anymore, which I did, I think, for a long, long time.
Recorded Philip Williams, 7.30, ABC, ABC News, 20 August 2015 source ↗
Pete Rozelle Commissioner of the National Football League, 1960–1989
It was a very simple thing. It was a church camp, I think. I was there about two or three days, very young, and I just remember some counselor telling us that reputation is what people think you are, and your character is what you are. So if you have a bad reputation, you might as well have a bad character, and it pays to have a good reputation and a good character.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗

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