"Be good at something. It makes you valuable."

“Why do you dwell on things that don't matter when there are so many things that do?”

“The notion of "humanity" as a form of transcendence derives, I think, from the conviction that intellectuality possesses an absolute power, from the demand that our best behavior depends on our ability to think abstractly, in terms of a universal rule, about something called humanity, that we need to understand humanity abstractly so that we can act responsibly towards those who represent it.”

Source : "Do Muslims Belong in the West? An Interview with Talal Asad". Interview with Hasan Azad, www.jadaliyya.com. February 3, 2015.

“Nothing can work me damage except myself.”

“South Africa is blessed to have women and men like yourselves who have little to give but give what you have with open hands and open hearts.”

“I had always intended to make a living out of playing blues. But I never admitted it to myself. I don't suppose I could have given a logical reason for it ever becoming possible to do so.”

“If you separate from . . . everything you have done in the past, everything that disturbs you about the future . . . and apply yourself to living the life that you are living-that is to say, the present-you can live all the time that remains to you until your death in calm, benevolence, and serenity.”

“The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.”

“The most effective executive branch officials try to help legislators develop explanations for the votes they are being asked to take.”

Source : "Robert Zoellick: “Getting Stuff Done” at the World Bank and Beyond" by Mark V. Vlasic, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 5, 2012.