In poor countries, officials receive explicit bribes; in D.C. they get the sophisticated, implicit, unspoken promise to work for large corporations

Experience is devoid of the cherry-picking that we find in studies.

They will envy you for your success, your wealth, for your intelligence, for your looks, for your status - but rarely for your wisdom.

An erudite is someone who displays less than he knows; a journalist or consultant the opposite.

I don't read the papers; I stopped reading the papers. I read the papers only during periods of crisis, and I think papers are too long on a regular day and too short days when we have a crisis.

If my detractors knew me better they would hate me even more.

Much of the research into humans' risk-avoidance machinery shows that it is antiquated and unfit for the modern world; it is made to counter repeatable attacks and learn from specifics. If someone narrowly escapes being eaten by a tiger in a certain cave, then he learns to avoid that cave.