Being an economist is the least ethical profession, closer to charlatanism than any science.

We tend to use knowledge as therapy.

People have the problem of denial. This is one of the things I learned in Lebanon. Everybody who left Beirut when the war started, including my parents, said, 'Oh, its temporary.' It lasted 17 years! People tend to underestimate the gravity of these situations. That's how they work.

Never ask a trader if he is profitable: you can easily see it in his gesture and gait.

When you ask people, 'What's the opposite of fragile?,' they tend to say robust, resilient, adaptable, solid, strong. That's not it. The opposite of fragile is something that gains from disorder.

Modernity has replaced ethics with legalese, and the law can be gamed with a good lawyer.

Democracies can't handle austerity measures very well.