The truth is that the best designers tend to be improvisers. They have ideas, and they shoot off sparks, but they may have nothing that counts as a grand plan.

The present often casts a new light on the past, making it somehow different from what we thought.

Our judgements are systematically self-serving. ('What's fair is what's best for me!') We dislike losses far more than we like equivalent gains ('loss aversion')

McCoy to the good Kirk: 'We all have our darker side. We need it! It's half of what we are. It's not really ugly. It's Human.'

What am I? What am I about? Have I fulfilled my potential, and, if not, is there still time?

The philosopher Harry Frankfurt makes a distinction between what we want (a cigarette, a bit of extra sleep, a visit to the Dark Side) and what we want to want (no cigarettes, a little more work, the Light). Frankfurt argues that if we act in accordance with what he calls our second-order desires, we are exercising our free will. For Frankfurt, freedom has a lot to do with the ideal of self-mastery.

Here are Lucas' own words: 'Life sends you down funny paths. And you get many opportunities to keep your eyes open.'