Try to retain some of the finest parts of the African American culture, some of the sweetest parts. The fact that people kind of drop their voices and become almost musical when they talk to a friend, or to a preacher, or to a teacher. They say, “Hey! How you doin’?” Remember that. Keep the melody in your mind and in your spirit. It will keep you tender in the tough times, which is very important.

My wife, my children, my friends, myself. I’m my own strongest critic. I am much tougher on myself than anybody I know, consistently.

As I reflect on my journey, I am forever grateful to have always had George by my side. As I said in the beginning, my story is really our story. George influenced almost every decision I made in life and my friendship and kinship with him deeply influenced the man I am today.

I prayed a lot about it. I sought a lot of advice from my dad.

She'll show you what it means to be truly courageous and selfless. And you'll spend the rest of your life working to make her sacrifices worth it.

Growing up, I had the words “lives remaining: 0” written on the wall of my room. If life were a video game, that’s how it’d indicate this is the only chance left.

“Yes, I’d like to upgrade my dad’s season tickets. Oh, front row, fifty-yard line, please–the best you have.”

deli counter attendant (I was terrible at this and hated smelling like cold cuts after work, despite how much my dog liked it), FedEx warehouse grunt (great exercise, though not very mentally stimulating), and parking booth attendant (get paid to read books? Yes, please! Until the robots replace humans, that is).

That really crystallized for me what some really passionate founders who could write some code could do to change things, and this gave me the confidence to say, “You know what? They can do this. We can definitely do this.” ... So without a doubt, Reddit would not exist if it weren’t for Masters of Doom.

Trust your instincts.