My characters are actually usually pretty smart and admirable.

People don't like uncertainty, and their minds are tools for making sense of the world, even when the world is senseless.

The institutions at the centre of capitalism are bigger than they've ever been, the pay is much greater, the ability of society to get its arms around it is much less. The political clout of the financial class is unbelievable. I'd say the story is darker than when I was there. When I was there it felt like a comedy - and now it feels more like a tragedy.

There's something bad in everything good and something good in everything bad.

People in both fields operate with beliefs and biases. To the extent you can eliminate both and replace them with data, you gain a clear advantage.

The Germans made just about every bad investment you could have made in the last 10 years. They invested in Icelandic banks. They invested in Greek government bonds. They were heavy into Irish banks, big into Irish banks, and they bought U.S. subprime mortgage bonds.

I didn't think one day something would happen that would bring me back to Wall Street to write what is essentially a sequel.