To others, being wrong is a source of shame; to me, recognizing my mistakes is a source of pride.

I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful - but also very harmful to our society.

In certain circumstances, financial markets can affect the so-called fundamentals which they are supposed to reflect. When that happens, markets enter into a state of dynamic disequilibrium and behave quite differently from what would be considered normal by the theory of efficient markets. Such boom/bust sequences do not arise very often, but when they do, they can be very disruptive, exactly because they affect the fundamentals of the economy.

However, even a strong government can't perform miracles. It needs money from the taxpayers.

I'm not doing my philanthropic work out of any kind of guilt, or any need to create good public relations. I'm doing it because I can afford to do it, and I believe in it.

Sometimes time actually works against you if you refuse to face the relevant issues and explain to the public what is at stake.

Mankind's ability to understand and control the forces of nature greatly exceeds our ability to govern ourselves