I am a teacher and I am proud of it. At Cornell University I have taught primarily undergraduates and indeed almost every year since 1966 have taught first-year general chemistry.

When I started out back in Louisville there was Harry Collins. He was my first teacher. He saw that I was so obsessed with magic that he taught me the love of magic.

I taught in a small teacher's college for three or four years at which point all the administrators got a pay raise and the teaching faculty didn't.

Both my grandmothers had upright pianos and I just knew how to play since I was a child. Nobody taught me. I sounded like a grown-up and then I learned how to read music. I played so well by ear I could fool the teacher to believe I could play the notes. She'd make the mistake of playing the song once and I could play it.

If you become a teacher by your pupils you'll be taught.

I do a lot of work with the Dyslexia Institute because for people with dyslexia who do not have parental support it is a huge disadvantage. I was fortunate because my Mum was a teacher and she taught me to work hard.

A self-taught man usually has a poor teacher and a worse student.

We are taught to consume. And that's what we do. But if we realized that there really is no reason to consume that it's just a mind set that it's just an addiction then we wouldn't be out there stepping on people's hands climbing the corporate ladder of success.

Machiavelli taught me it was better to be feared than loved. Because if you are loved they sense you might be weak. I am a man of the people and help them but it is important to do so through strength.

Exercise helps me with stress. It changes your brain chemistry. I turn to Ashtanga yoga when I feel the need to relax. I love it but it's not right for everybody. It's taught to you a little bit at a time according to your body type and your strength. That keeps things challenging.