It's almost impossible to overpay the truly extraordinary CEO... but the species is rare.

If you've been playing poker for half an hour and you still don't know who the patsy is, you're the patsy.

Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite riddles: How many legs does a dog have, if you call a tail a leg? The answer: Four, because calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.

In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a flu epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.

Investing is laying out money now to get more money back in the future.

I choose to work with every single person that I work with. That ends up being the most important factor. I don't interact with people I don't like or admire. That's the key. It's like marrying.

I think what people understand there probably - well, they were hoping the private sector would do it [rescuing AIG ].