Some coaches believed they could judge a player's performance simply by watching it. In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye was an inadequate tool for learning what you needed to know to evaluate baseball players and baseball games. Think about it. One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks. The difference between a good hitter and an average hitter is simply not visible-it is a matter of record

It is far better to keep the enemy close, by bribing him with stock options, than to have him out in the wild, foraging.

Icelandic people are inbred. And they have a sense of themselves as genetically special, and a history of risk-taking because they make their living on the high seas fishing. Assets generally rose in value during this period, and so it looked like they actually knew what they were doing.

Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck — and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your Gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky.

The sports world is an echo chamber. All it takes is one quote from a general manager and a thousand sports columns bloom.

It's such a pain in the ass to write a book, I can't imagine writing one if I'm not interested in the subject.

The arrangement bore the same relation to actual finance as fantasy football bears to the NFL.