What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?
Recorded Marvin Minsky said elsewhere, not written here
So any student who wants to get into psychology, right now the students are like lemmings. They say, “Well, it’s popular to study brain science, I’ll do that.” Or, “It’s popular to do neural networks; I see 30,000 people doing it, it must be good.” And my advice is if a lot of people are doing it, don’t waste your time.

Academy of Achievement interview, 4 May 2001 source ↗

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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of Liberia, 2006–2018
So I urge my sisters, and my brothers, not to be afraid. Be not afraid to denounce injustice, though you may be outnumbered. Be not afraid to seek peace, even if your voice may be small. Be not afraid to demand peace.
Recorded Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2011 source ↗
George Schaller Field biologist and conservationist; Wildlife Conservation Society
Certainly, if you want to get into the field of biology these days, you should also study anthropology because so much work now is with communities. How do you help communities? How do you convince communities to protect their environment? — Especially if, let’s say, you have a tiger eating your cows. The natural gesture is to kill that tiger. Well, what are the alternatives? That’s the kind of thing one is now increasingly working with.
Recorded Academy of Achievement recorded interview, American Academy of Achievement, 7 November 2017 source ↗
Susan Wojcicki Chief executive of YouTube; Google's first marketing manager
Life doesn't offer you the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. Opportunities come when you least expect them ... Rarely are opportunities presented to you in a perfect way. In a nice little box with a yellow bow on top. ‘Here, open it, it's perfect. You'll love it.’ Opportunities -- the good ones -- are messy, confusing and hard to recognize. They're risky. They challenge you.
Recorded Johns Hopkins University Commencement, Class of 2014, HuffPost, May 2014 source ↗
Simone Biles United States artistic gymnast
Yeah, I say put mental health first because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it's okay sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are rather than just battle through it.
Recorded Post-competition press conference, Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Tokyo Olympics, Rev, 27 July 2021 source ↗

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