A dead princess is only complete when surrounded by gaping crowds with their cameras out, or the opportunity to photograph yourself pulling an amazed expression when a killer whale leaps from a toilet.

The Smithsonian has always been able to rise above the political moment. I don’t see anything that stops that process.

In a democracy, that’s the only realistic path to Net Zero. Consent, not imposition. Honesty, not obfuscation. Pragmatism, not ideology.

In the past, human progress had to come at the cost of the environment. If we wanted energy, we had to burn wood or we had to burn fossil fuels. If we wanted to grow more food, we had to expand farmland, often at the cost of forests. But technology and innovation means we're very quickly decoupling these impacts, such that this conflict is no longer true.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

You don’t take a photograph, you make it.

The best reason to learn from Leonardo, however, is not to get a better job but to live a better life.

Search for what is good and strong and beautiful in your society and elaborate from there. Push outward. Always create from what you already have. Then you will know what to do.

I don’t believe in the phrase ‘aspiring writer.’ To me it’s just, you’re a writer.