Some societies are also more optimistic than others: the U.S. and Australia are my two picks Tell a European you think there’s a housing bubble and you’ll have a reasonable discussion. Tell an Australian and you’ll have World War III. Been there, done that!

At least us old men remember what a real bear market is like, and the young men haven't got a clue.

It is better to be lucky than good, but of course appropriate to aspire to both.

If stocks are attractive and you don't buy, you don't just look like an idiot, you are an idiot.

I find the parallels between how some investors refuse to recognise the trends and our reaction to some of our environmental challenges very powerful. There is an unwillingness to process unpleasant data.

I would say that financial markets are very inefficient, and capable of extremes of being completely dysfunctional.

Investment bubbles and high animal spirits do not materialize out of thin air. They need extremely favorable economic fundamentals together with free and easy, cheap credit, and they need it for at least two or three years. Importantly, they also need serial pleasant surprises in such critical variables as global GNP growth.