To care for and to protect is written in our genetic code. As men, it’s who we are. And I think the embers of the man we will become begin to spark and crackle as we grow older out of our childhood, but burst to flame when we must fulfill our duty as guardian and father

I want to lead my children by example. I want to teach them that dreams should never be forgotten, that part of true happiness is being in love with what you do. But one lesson I want my kids to remember after I’m gone is that the fight for love and passion is something worth dying for.

On Becoming a Young Dad: How unfortunate it is to be dismissed because of a number, but how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to prove my worth.

No matter your creed, or the people you descend from, no matter how many other people there are, you are in control of your world. Make it bend to your will. Master your skills, form alliances, explore the boundless world of Earth. The possibilities are infinite.

When we are forced to adapt to something unknown to us, we learn things about ourselves. This knowledge helps us to flourish. If you fight it, this process is damaged. Accept change for what it is: a chance to learn, to grow, and to succeed.

Much of life, fatherhood included, is the story of knowledge acquired too late: if only I’d known then what I know now, how much smarter, abler, stronger, I would have been. But nothing really prepares you for kids, for the swells of emotion that roll through your chest like the rumble of boulders tumbling downhill, nor for the all-enveloping labor of it, the sheer mulish endurance you need for the six or seven hundred discrete tasks that have to be done each and every day. Such a small person! Not much bigger than a loaf of bread at first, yet it takes so much to keep the whole enterprise going. Logistics, skills, materiel; the only way we really learn is by figuring it out as we go along, and even then it changes on us every day, so we’re always improvising, which is a fancy way of saying that we’re doing things we technically don’t know how to do.