My client loved risk. Risk, I had learned, was a commodity in itself. Risk could be canned and sold like tomatoes.

The men on the trading floor may not have been to school, but they have Ph.D.’s in man’s ignorance.

People were paid lots of money to make stupid decisions, people in big banks, and when people are paid to be stupid they'll be stupid. The question was, did they know they were being stupid or were they just stupid? I think you need to take it on a case by case basis. There was some sinister activity, but I think by and by it was people being incentivised to do the wrong thing.

You can anchor the mind into answering a question a certain way by giving them a totally unrelated piece of information dropped before.

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.

Every form of strength is also a form of weakness.

What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don't need to make smart decisions--if they can get rich making dumb decisions? The incentives on Wall Street were all wrong; they're still all wrong.