Connery's words so simply and so brilliantly capture the transformative power of reading. The transcript of those 40 seconds appears below.
Sean Connery: I got my break—big break—when I was five years old, and it's taken me more than seventy years to realize it. You see, at five, I learned to read. It's that simple, and it's that profound. I left school at thirteen, I didn't have a formal education, and I believe I would not be standing here tonight without the books, the plays, the scripts.
Adults: Tell children this truth and live by it yourself.
