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Richard Leakey

Palaeoanthropologist and conservationist; head of the Kenya Wildlife Service

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
It’s very hard to give people advice, because you don’t know their personality. Personality is a big part of that. Everybody is faced with passing opportunities. Many people watch the opportunity come and watch it go. I say, if an opportunity comes and you have got the self-confidence, grab it. Ride it for a bit. If it’s not the right opportunity, do something else, but be positive about opportunities.

Academy of Achievement recorded interview, American Academy of Achievement, 21 June 2007 source ↗

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Patti Smith Musician, poet and photographer
Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work and protect your work. […] Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.
Recorded Christian Lund, Louisiana Literature festival, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012, Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012 source ↗
Frederick W. Smith Founder and long-serving chairman of FedEx Corporation
The most important piece of advice that I could give them is to take advantage of the tremendous reservoir of knowledge that’s out there today. Spend some time learning how the world has evolved. There are a lot of good lessons in history, and other peoples’ experiences in the past, that could be exactly the solution to the problem you’re looking for.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 23 May 1998 source ↗
John Lewis U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1987–2020; Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963–1966
You must find a way to get in the way, you must find a way to get into trouble — good trouble, necessary trouble.
Recorded Emory University Quadrangle, Atlanta, Emory News Center, Emory University, 12 May 2014 source ↗
Charlie Munger Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023
Luckily, I got at a very early age the idea that the safest way to try and get what you want is to try and deserve what you want. It's such a simple idea. It's the golden rule so to speak. You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end. There is no ethos, in my opinion, that is better for any lawyer or any other person to have.
Recorded USC Gould School of Law commencement, Speakola, 2007 source ↗

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Question How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? Failure & regret
So Cambridge rejected me. Quite rightly, although at the time I thought it was a little churlish. So, I had to do it without any university training. ... and I began to realize that there were probably a lot more of these things, and that if you find these things, you get a position in the ladder which you can’t get to unless you have either got an education or something else. So by finding important things, you immediately get into the game, which you’d been excluded from otherwise.
Recorded Academy of Achievement recorded interview, American Academy of Achievement, 21 June 2007 source ↗

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