After a crisis we tell ourselves we understand why it happened and maintain the illusion that the world is understandable. In fact, we should accept the world is incomprehensible much of the time.

Adaptation seems to be, to a substantial extent, a process of reallocating your attention.

The conclusion is straightforward : self-control requires attention and effort.

We're generally overconfident in our opinions and our impressions and judgments.

Except for some effects that I attribute mostly to age, my intuitive thinking is just as prone to overconfidence, extreme predictions, and the planning fallacy as it was before I made a study of these issues.

Experts don't know exactly where the boundaries of their expertise are.

Negotiations over a shrinking pie are especially difficult because they require an allocation of losses. People tend to be much more easygoing when they bargain over an expanding pie.