Scientists may be in the business of laughing at their predecessors, but owing to an array of human mental dispositions, few realize that someone will laugh at their beliefs in the (disappointingly near) future.

A good rule of thumb is as follows: If the numbers come from somebody wearing a tie (Wall Street economist or analyst, industry public relations department, captive think tank academic and so on), you ought to be very skeptical. By design messages from these people are intended to move markets, move merchandise and/or move public policy and are not a comment on the state of the physical universe.

We have this culture of financialization. People think they need to make money with their savings rather with their own business. So you end up with dentists who are more traders than dentists. A dentist should drill teeth and use whatever he does in the stock market for entertainment.

Failure saves lives. In the airline industry, every time a plane crashes the probability of the next crash is lowered by that.

The imagination of the genius vastly surpasses his intellect; the intellect of the academic vastly surpasses his imagination

Aesthetics, ethics, and many good things in humans are contagious.

Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur