I'd say be just like you. I once had someone tell me that I don't remind them of anyone that they ever met. And I took that as a huge compliment, which meant I was original. And so I would suggest to her that she speak her truth with her life, with her own sense of purpose and pursue her dreams.

They encouraged me, the way I do others now, that if you really have something that you like to do, that’s what you probably should do. Despite what everybody says, that you can’t make a living, or that’s not practical, or a thousand reasons why you may not do this or this or this. If that’s what your heart says you should do, chances are that you ought to listen.

Scientists are people who are curious and want to pursue knowledge and pursue truth, and this still remains the most timeless and priceless value of a scientific career. My advice to an early-career scientist is to remain true to your passion and curiosity and that sense of mission to discover knowledge and uncover innovation. It's also very important to be using the tools of the moment, of the century. There are a lot of new tools to uplevel our own scientific research and scientific quest.

Always remember that it's much easier to apologize than to get permission. In this world of computers, the best thing to do is to do it.

Reading too many books at the same time.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, because I imagine it to be what the thoughtful American right reads.

I also knew that victimhood is not a virtue. That being discriminated against does not make you somehow morally better.

To get this prize, I was required to talk about how important a particular European feminist woman writer had been to me. Now the truth was that I had never managed to finish this feminist writer’s book. It did not speak to me. It would have been a lie to claim that she had any major influence on my thinking. […] I could have said that this woman was important to me, and I could have talked the talk, and I could have been given the prize and a shiny present. But I didn’t.

But after one year of medical school I fled. I realized I would be a very unhappy doctor and I really did not want to be responsible for the inadvertent death of my patients. Leaving medical school was a very unusual decision, especially in Nigeria where it is very difficult to get into medical school. Later, people told me that it had been very courageous of me, but I did not feel courageous at all. What I felt then was not courage but a desire to make an effort. To try.