Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay were caricatures - they were easy to spot. They were almost psychopaths. But it's much harder to spot problems at companies like Royal Dutch [Shell].

People calculate too much and think too little.

Move only when you have an advantage. It's very basic. You have to understand the odds and have the discipline to bet only when the odds are in your favor.

Berkshireis in the business of making easy predictions If a deal looks too hard, the partners simply shelve it.

Wall Street has too much wealth and political power.

The harder you work, the more confidence you get. But you may be working hard on something that is false.

Without numerical fluency, in the part of life most of us inhibit, you are like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.