"My childhood was spent pretending I could see. I thought people wouldn't like me if they knew how blind I was."
Poet and memoirist Stephen Kuusisto, speaking at Colby about growing up in the 1960s.

"You can make your history, you can end injustice, you can make a difference. Go out and do it."
Activist Kevin Jennings, referring to the upcoming vote on a gay rights referendum in Maine and urging students at Colby (cited by The Princeton Review for "gay community accepted– there is very little discrimination against homosexuals") to support the measure.

"Some 35 tons of energy and commitment. It's a staggering thought."
President William D. Adams, at the Class of 2004 matriculation convocation, sizing up the incoming class by estimating its collective weight.

"We may be wowed by the sculpture, but I know I'm going to love the crane."
Joe Feely, an art history major and now Colby's staff architect, anticipating the 450-ton crane required to put the three pieces of the new Richard Serra sculpture, each weighing 30 tons, into the Paul J. Schupf Sculpture Court.