Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short.

I was a teen idol and that has a short shelf life.

Maturity is only a short break in adolescence.

When I was about 13 or 14 I had an English teacher who made a deal with me that I could get out of doing all of the year's regular work if I would write a short story a week and on Friday read it to the class.

There is a shortage of teachers but the January 2001 schools census showed that teacher numbers were at their highest level than at any time since 1984 - and 11 000 higher than 1997.

I'd never been a teacher before and here I was starting my first day with these eager students. There was a shortage of teachers and they had been without a math teacher for six months. They were so excited to learn math.

I used to write things for friends. There was this girl I had a crush on and she had a teacher she didn't like at school. I had a real crush on her so almost every day I would write her a little short story where she would kill him in a different way.

The impending teacher shortage is the most critical education issue we will face in the next decade.

Nothing good comes in life or athletics unless a lot of hard work has preceded the effort. Only temporary success is achieved by taking short cuts.

People repeat behaviour that leads to flooding their brains with pleasurable chemicals. The short-term reward loop acts over hours to years and the long-term reproductive success loop over generations.