Sometimes you read something and it’s just — it doesn’t invite a reader….Sometimes you read something and it’s not saying, ‘oh come in, come in have a seat. I’m going to tell you what happened.’ Perhaps my writing comes off as conversational…and that takes effort.

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.

If you don't know what you're living for, you haven't yet lived.

There’s an interesting trend that occurs in times of mounting pressure and high uncertainty, which is that it’s a natural human tendency to seek out people that agree with us, that are similar to us because it’s a source of comfort in a world that’s so rapidly changing.

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.

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.