I remind myself of Einstein's remark that common sense is nothing but a collection of misconceptions acquired by age 18.

Wittgenstein's ruler: Unless you have confidence in the ruler's reliability, if you use a ruler to measure a table you may also be using the table to measure the ruler.

The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.

Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous.

If something is going on, I hear about it. I like to talk to people, I socialise. Television is a waste of time. Human contact is what matters.

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.

We should ban banks from risk-taking because society is going to pay the price.