Some quotes

Don't eat the seed. Sow and reap!

Teach things we don't understand. Don't teach what you understand.

Don't give to God that is nothing.

Take a leap of faith, a step of faith.

For leaders, putting your head in the sand is a fumbling of duties.

Pittsburghers care about our kids. If we knew it would help, we'd cut off our arms to help our children. But, coming to the understanding of what is best seems to be much of the problem. And, when we don't try hard enough -- we all are defeated.

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Pittsburgh would like to be "Knowledge Town." We need places that spark our imaginations. We don't aspire to be 'Rote Memorization Town." We should be wise, full of knowledge, insightful, and full of imagination and capacity to fix.

I do not want to see all of our science crammed into the Science Center. I don't want all of the cultural aspects of our city confined to the Cultural District. I don't want the History Center to be the lone keeper of every historical artifact.

I want diversity. I want an urban, unique, mixed use place that has spaces and relationships that work to fire up our intergerational wonder.

Talking about the stars and heavens is rich. And, when we had this mentality, and capacity as part of the Buhl Science Center and its star theater, Pittsburgh was growing.

Now, Pittsburghers often leave the city.

On a number of occasions, I've spoken at the public podium and have pointed out that the former Lazarus Department store in Pittsburgh, with its downtown TIFFs (tax breaks) and Corporate Subsidies -- and because of its low sales price of the property from the URA and with hair-brained deal from the Mayor's planners -- Lazarus paid less per year than the rent for the Old Post Office on the North Side that was a reuse and home to the Children's Museum.

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When a stadium deal or a convention center deal or a new arena deal is pondered, we as citizens, as parents, as taxpayers, are going to get beat up badly. We are going to pay the brunt of the costs.

For the kids sake, we have a serious desire to hold out the highest of hopes. We want splendid opportunities for the next generation.

We don't want to cobble together rinky-dink solutions for our kids. And, we know that it takes great perspectives to find elegant, uplifting solutions.

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This place should not deplete you. Rather nourish.

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A feather of an ostrich is kept in my office. The feather gives a reminder for an approach to politics from a softer approach. The feather comes from one of the biggest birds, but it can't fly a lick. The ostrich fame comes from its act of putting its head in the sand. That is not a good place to be. This is a bad habit. It is terrible for building perspectives. When your head is in the sand, it is a by-gone conclusion that you can't see the stars.

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In youth, every event looks unique.

How do you deal with the moment? How do you look forward? How to react to the anticipation of the future?

We can choose what we bring to tomorrow. We can't know what tomorrow brings.

A tiny action is stronger than a lifetime of worry.

Expect a challenging life. Why think not?

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As we face a troubled and puzzled world, let us not build troubled and puzzled solutions.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Spirit of confirmation is in the air. Undeterred. Persistent.

Do not absolve the institutions for responsibility. There is institutional racism.

They've got buckets full of money. But we've got oceans full of good ideas. They do not have a monopoly on good ideas. When they think they've got a monopoly on the ideas, then we've got a de-facto monopoly on principles, because they've sold out. They are closed minded. There is nothing worse.

It is not for the slaves to talk about freedom.

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Politics is complicated. Democracy is messy. Voting is simple.

The best we can hope for is for full knowledge of who is paying for campaigns. That's timely disclosure for direct and supplemental campaigns.