Quotes from Nancy Gibbs

Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were slaves by birth, freedom fighters by temperament.

Maybe we adults idealize our own red-rover days, the hot afternoons spent playing games that required no coaches, eating foods that involved no nutrition, getting dirty in whole new ways and rarely glancing in the direction of a screen of any kind.

Across much of the developing world, by the time she is 12, a girl is tending house, cooking, cleaning. She eats what's left after the men and boys have eaten; she is less likely to be vaccinated, to see a doctor, to attend school.

'Sesame Street's' genius lies in finding gentle ways to talk about hard things - death, divorce, danger - in terms that children understand and accept.

Be bored and see where it takes you, because the imagination's dusty wilderness is worth crossing if you want to sculpt your soul.

I live in a dumb house. Which is not to say that I don't love its quirky charm, its drafty windows and leaky fireplaces and an electrical system that protests when too many people are trying to vacuum and microwave at the same time. But charm is not always user-friendly.

Today's kids aren't taking up arms against their parents; they're too busy texting them.

There are many things that matter much more than an editor's gender in shaping the direction of the leadership.

I like the fact that glass ceilings are breaking all over.

High achievers, we imagine, were wired for greatness from birth. But then you have to wonder why, over time, natural talent seems to ignite in some people and dim in others.

Teaching sometimes seems like not one profession, but every profession. We ask them to be doctor and diplomat, calf-herder, map-maker, wizard and watchman, electricians of the mind.

Years later, nothing makes me more grateful as a parent than my daughters' encounters with classroom wizards.

Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly - young and old, faithful and cynical - as has Pope Francis.

Bill Clinton left office with a more than 60% approval rating.

George W. Bush, though a president's son, is cast as Reagan's heir even more than his father's.

I've been grateful that 'Time's' reach and mandate is so broad; anything you're interested in, you can usually write about.

I'm sentimental about many things: the lumpy feel of a baby's unused feet, the metallic smell of the air before the first snow, the last scene in 'It's a Wonderful Life.' But Valentine's Day leaves me cold.

While many alien species are harmless, others pose expensive threats to seas and fields and forests.

Democracy presumes that we're all created equal; competition proves we are not, or else every race would end in a tie.

In design as in life, smart can also mean wise, kind, inspiring - and cost-effective. And that has a charm all its own.

Emotional life grows out of an area of the brain called the limbic system, specifically the amygdala, whence come delight and disgust and fear and anger.

All great rebellions are born of private acts of civil disobedience that inspire rebel bands to plot together.

It's no secret that the media has fragmented in recent years, that audiences have been cut into slivers, and that more and more people get their news from ever narrower outlets.

Enter politics, and you enter the glass house; there are no secrets and no places to hide.