“Everything, in retrospect, is obvious. But if everything were obvious, authors of histories of financial folly would be rich . . .”

“Germans longed to be near shit, but not in it. This, as it turns out, is an excellent description of their role in the current financial crisis.”

“The men on the trading floor may not have been to school, but they have Ph.D.’s in man’s ignorance.”

“He was blessed with an unconventional mind, which overcame his conventional middle-class upbringing.”

“The author refers to a player's affected nonchalance and comments he is, "too young to realize you are what you pretend to be.”

“What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don’t need to make smart decisions—if they can get rich making dumb decisions?”

“Baseball has so much history and tradition. You can respect it, or you can exploit it for profit, but it's still being made all over the place, all the time.”