The Moulin Rouge is, like the West Village and the Nasdaq, one of those places that people who don't like to take risks come to for the thrill of being on the spot where risks once were taken.

Baseball is this intense subculture that actually doesn't speak very much for the larger culture.

The pleasure of rooting for Goliath is that you can expect to win. The pleasure of rooting for David is that, while you don’t know what to expect, you stand at least a chance of being inspired.

As idiotic as optimism can sometimes seem, it has a weird habit of paying off.

When you're trying to create a career as a writer, a little delusional thinking goes a long way.

In Japan, mothers insist on achievement and accomplishment as a sign of love and respect. Thus to fail places children in a highly shamed situation.

A banking system is an act of faith: it survives only for as long as people believe it will.

Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck — and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your Gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky.

A credit default swap was confusing mainly because it wasn't really a swap at all. It was an insurance policy, typically on a corporate bond, with semiannual premium payments and a fixed term.

One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks.

People don't like uncertainty, and their minds are tools for making sense of the world, even when the world is senseless.

Unlike most fine writers, he wasn't in love with his own words.

I almost never do anything for Black History Month, because I feel it's just another way to separate us.

I would be happy at a piano bar, singing. I just want to home in on being the best singer I can be.

Look from the blind man's eye.... You can paint the picture, the way you like about this world, so why not think positive and make this world more beautiful for yourself and others?

It is not within the character of a believer to curse, to damn, to speak or act improperly.

The secret to perseverance is a simple one: have a bigger commitment to getting the job done than to attempting to control your inner feelings and sensations.

People want to find a 'meaning' in everything and everyone. That's the disease of our age...

The life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of service.

...the questions a photographer raises may be more profound than the answers the medium permits.

When I am in London, I think my favourite city is London, but when I am in New York, I feel it is New York. It is very hard to choose between the two.