life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.

The data don't lie: a Chicago street prostitute is more likely to have sex with a cop than to be arrested by one.

Mutual respect makes blunt disagreement bearable.

[The Wright Brothers'] overarching big idea was to invent backward. They didn't build prototypes and then try to get them off the ground. They tried to fly first, then see what they needed to invent to stay aloft longer.

Collaboration doesn't flourish if people decide to get together "whenever." It's remarkably effective, however, when partners set a schedule and establish a routine–when working together becomes a habit.

If you do things right along the way, the end takes care of itself.

Collaboration may be a practice–a way of working in harmony with others–but it begins as a point of view.