We tend to treat our knowledge as personal property to be protected and defended. It is an ornament that allows us to rise in the pecking order. [...] We take what we know a little too seriously.

Poverty is clearly one source of emotional suffering, but there are others, like loneliness.

My biggest problem with modernity may lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal

You will get the most attention from those who hate you. No friend, no admirer and no partner will flatter you with as much curiosity.

Information is bad for knowledge.

Failure saves lives. In the airline industry, every time a plane crashes the probability of the next crash is lowered by that. The Titanic saved lives because we're building bigger and bigger ships. So these people died, but we have effectively improved the safety of the system, and nothing failed in vain.

A system, artificially stabilized, and of course you have hidden risks under the surface, and you don't know where the risks are.