“As I discovered, there is a great deal of similarity between a boom-bust process in the financial markets and the rise and fall of the Soviet system.”

The global crisis is caused by pathologies inherent in the global financial system itself.

The worse a situation becomes the less it takes to turn it around, the bigger the upside.

Markets can influence the events that they anticipate.

I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes.

There is no point in being confident and having a small position.

America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany. We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process.

If we carry this line of argument to its logical conclusion, the meaning of life consists of the flaws in one’s conceptions and what one does about them. Life can be seen as a fertile fallacy.

Every bubble has two components: something – some real trend, and a misconception about that trend.

I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong.

Start by assuming the market is always wrong, so if you copy everybody else on Wall Street, you’re doomed to do poorly.

The trouble with institutional investors is that their performance is usually measured relative to their peer group and not by an absolute yardstick. This makes them trend followers by definition.

Political debate is more interested in manipulating the truth, than finding the truth.

Short term volatility is greatest at turning points and diminishes as a trend becomes established.

An open society is a society which allows its members the greatest possible degree of freedom in pursuing their interests compatible with the interests of others.

Unfortunately, the more complex the system, the greater the room for error.

The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.

If I can help a kid discover a liking, or even a passion for music in their life, then that’s a wonderful thing.

The world is ready for a mystic revolution, a discovery of the God in each of us.

I discovered martial arts, first judo and then karate.

No man has ever yet discovered the way to give friendly advice to any woman, not even to his own wife.

That is the physics that all fearless types discover at some point – an appropriate ratcheting up of self-belief and energy when facing negative or even impossible circumstances.

I discovered martial arts, first judo and then karate, and I became quite good at it, because I had something to prove. And more than anything, I needed to feel safe.

I call “crystallization” that action of the mind that discovers fresh perfections in its beloved at every turn of events.

I think I would like to discover a new root where people don’t get bored with people singing boring lines but something exciting. That’d be interesting.