“I would like each of you to now think in terms of acquiring skill. Good skill helps you move more freely in the world. Skill is your confidence. Skill is your protector. Skill is your friend. And this above all else -- skill is a legitimate form of power." Nurse Pierce, The Blue Orchard”

“The bottom line on skills is this: A skill is designed to make the secrets of the best easily transferable. If you learn a skill, it will help you get a little better, but it will not cover for a lack of talent. Instead, as you build your strengths, skills will actually prove most valuable when they are combined with genuine talent.”

“When God gives an assignment, he also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment.”

“Never miss an opportunity to learn another life skill. Just because you are an author or a doctor does not mean that you cannot learn carpentry, auto mechanics,electrical wiring, farming, or any other discipline. Each of these skills will give you the opportunity to help someone and to make a friend. Your new friend probably has a skill that you do not. If you will just ask every skilled person you see to show you how he does what he does, you will have the tools to succeed in life, to make new friends, and to save a boatload of money.”

“When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there's either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world. And there's nothing wrong with my skills.”

“Keep your friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent”