One of my favorite Yi-Fu Tuan quotes:
I was only fifteen when I chose geography as my field. Twelve years later, in 1957, I received my doctoral degree. So ended my long period of formal training. Ever since, I have not only taught and done research in geography but I have breathed and lived it. How was (is) that possible? How can geography, a rather down-to-earth subject, have such a hold on me, offer me ‘salvation’ when, from time to time, my personal life seemed to be the pits? I couldn’t have answered properly as a teenager or even as a newly-minted PhD. I can give a well-rounded answer only late in life — in retrospect, for the meaning of geography has expanded over a lifetime. It grew as I grew.
— Yi-Fu Tuan (1999)
Rachel Bok 