Hi Joe!  I agree with your perceptions here.  Another thing he used to say (through the 90's it seems to me) is:  "The door is always open"--and he go on to say,  "Knowledge, love it or leave it.  But if you want to come back, the door is always open, etc.etc.etc."  It all felt very generous and magnanimous then...

BUT....

I was a fully involved premie during those years, and such statements would make me almost laugh--who could possibly want to leave this?  The cloth was wearing thin, though. Later, I started feeling very  uncomfortable with such statements, because they were tossed off like he didn't care, and I started to see the chicken wire beneath the fancy weaving. 

Cheers,

Shelagh