As I upgraded my Kindle, I extracted all the highlights I had done on it. These go from incredulous, to insightful, to funny or only informative. Here they are - and if you wonder why I highlighted anything in particular, just ask.
These were collected between 2012 and very recently. They probably say more about me than the ones writing them.
Three Men in a Boat ()
Monday, 13 August 12 01:22:56
“a general disinclination to work of any kind.”
Poirot investigates ()
Sunday, 2 September 12 00:16:38
pusillanimous
Double Cross ()
Sunday, 16 September 12 08:47:51
Indeed, there was very little work to do, since the Germans believed that “the characteristics of the Portuguese—their love of the melodramatics, their rumour-mongering and their general undependability—made them poorly fitted for the work of agents.”
Double Cross ()
Sunday, 16 September 12 09:10:49
asking the Swedish air force commander to consider a peacekeeping role in Norway in the event of an Allied invasion. (The pro-Nazi Swedish police chief was bugging the room in which this conversation took place, and the lie flew back to Berlin.)
Boeing 787 Dreamliner ()
Thursday, 25 October 12 00:46:36
The comments attracted the attention of European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom who, in an open letter, retorted angrily to Stonecipher’s alleged cavalier attitude.
The Second World War ()
Sunday, 28 October 12 23:26:58
He was arrested by SMERSh, and executed in July 1947.
A short history of nearly everything ()
Wednesday, 26 December 12 16:15:21
How fast a man’s beard grows, for instance, is partly a function of how much he thinks about sex (because thinking about sex produces a testosterone surge).
The Power of Habit ()
Monday, 7 January 13 23:15:11
“Self-discipline predicted academic performance more robustly than did IQ. Self-discipline also predicted which students would improve their grades over the course of the school year, whereas IQ did not.… Self-discipline has a bigger effect on academic performance than does intellectual talent.”
Under Orders ()
Monday, 28 January 13 23:51:54
on Tipperary to win the ‘All-Ireland’ hurling in the Gaelic Games, or on the Swedish team Vetlanda to win at bandy, whatever that might be.
Submarine ()
Sunday, 24 February 13 00:30:03
THINK QUIET! IT’S OUR BUSINESS . . . IT COULD BE OUR LIVES. The final one is a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem, “If,” not a bad philosophy to advertise if you are in charge of 132 lives and $800 million of the taxpayers’ money.
Puppyhood: How to Raise the Perfect Dog ()
Tuesday, 26 February 13 00:08:57
“How much is that doggie in the window?”
The Economist ()
Friday, 8 March 13 13:23:24
Sweden boasts some world-class manufacturing companies, particularly in mining equipment and machine tools (Sandvik and Atlas Copco), as well as retail stars such as IKEA and H&M. Finland’s Kone is one of the world’s leading lift and escalator companies. Nokia’s problems are being offset by the rise of electronic-games makers such as Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds. Norway is a world leader in oil services and fish farming.
The Amber Room ()
Wednesday, 13 March 13 08:44:03
NON CORONABITUR, NISI LEGITIME CERTAVERIT. Without a just fight, there is no victory, he silently translated. The Bible again. Timothy 2:5.
Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing ()
Saturday, 16 March 13 09:09:39
My friend Steve Coonts used a concept of “active” stealth in his novel The Minotaur a few years ago.
Numbers Rule Your World: The Hidden Influence of Probabilities and Statistics on Everything You Do ()
Monday, 25 March 13 14:23:54
This is not another book about “damned lies and statistics.” That evergreen topic has inspired masterworks from Darrell Huff, John Allen Paulos, Ed Tufte, and Howard Wainer, among others. From the manipulative politician to the blundering analyst, from the amateur economist to the hard-selling advertiser, we have endless examples of what can go wrong when numbers are misused.
Whiteout ()
Friday, 12 April 13 06:59:00
"We all get weird ideas into our heads, but a lonely person has no one to tell him not to be crazy."
Snow Crash ()
Sunday, 14 April 13 23:45:34
Software comes out of factories, and hackers are, to a greater or lesser extent, assembly-line workers. Worse yet, they may become managers who never get to write any code themselves.
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt ()
Sunday, 28 April 13 09:01:59
Discipline and obedience, he wrote, ultimately depend upon “the subordinate's recognition that those placed in authority over him are possessed of a higher degree of experience, military prowess, or—not to beat around the bush—moral development.” But a superior who lacks real ability—or character—draws only scorn.
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt ()
Wednesday, 1 May 13 19:22:54
self-loathing often manifests itself as bitterness toward others,
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt ()
Thursday, 9 May 13 08:15:53
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World”
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr ()
Thursday, 6 June 13 08:05:58
Despite her early bluestocking bent, she lost much of her intellectual brightness as she made the transition from teacher to pedagogical mother,
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr ()
Tuesday, 25 June 13 20:26:54
Cettie even found indecent the charming statues of male cherubim on the porch outside their bedroom and had them chastely converted into female angels.
A world undone: the story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 ()
Friday, 30 August 13 08:00:26
Three of the disasters of this period were particularly pointless.
The Book Thief ()
Saturday, 12 October 13 12:02:01
There were people everywhere on the citystreet, but the stranger could not havebeen more alone if it were empty.
Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street ()
Friday, 1 November 13 23:54:07
Thomas Jefferson warned: “A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.”
A Memory Of Light: Wheel of Time Book 14 (The Wheel of Time) ()
Wednesday, 6 November 13 22:23:13
“With experience comes a determination to be set in your ways, to avoid new experiences.
A Memory Of Light: Wheel of Time Book 14 (The Wheel of Time) ()
Saturday, 9 November 13 10:24:32
A man should look at an Aes Sedai and immediately wonder what he had done wrong and how he could fix it.
A Memory Of Light: Wheel of Time Book 14 (The Wheel of Time) ()
Sunday, 10 November 13 23:24:19
Darkness exists only when Light fails, when it flees.
A Memory Of Light: Wheel of Time Book 14 (The Wheel of Time) ()
Monday, 11 November 13 22:35:14
“I’d feel like I needed to bloody move to another country,” Birgitte snapped, loosing another arrow, “one where the monarchs don’t have pudding for brains.”
A Memory Of Light: Wheel of Time Book 14 (The Wheel of Time) ()
Monday, 11 November 13 23:27:59
If it is the right word, it will work without help. If it’s the wrong word, adding other words to it will just make it seem desperate.
Black Coffee ()
Friday, 22 November 13 22:52:41
Altara? There was a pretty rogue for you! He eluded the clutches of half the police in Europe.
The Moving Finger ()
Wednesday, 27 November 13 00:02:21
Cats eat the kittens they don't like.
The Drop ()
Sunday, 15 December 13 23:58:14
All good. Finished homework, watching Castle downloads.
The Mysterious Mr. Quin ()
Saturday, 15 March 14 01:28:20
"I've heard it said that every man should build a house, plant a tree and have a son."
He paused and then added
--"I believe I planted an acorn once..."
He paused and then added
--"I believe I planted an acorn once..."
The Importance of Being Earnest ()
Monday, 24 March 14 23:31:40
My duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree.
Poirot Loses a Client ()
Friday, 9 May 14 19:54:43
"Dr. Tanios is a Greek."
"Yes, of course, that's the other way about--I mean, they're usually the ones who get massacred by the Turks--or am I thinking of Armenians? But all the same, I don't like to think of it.
"Yes, of course, that's the other way about--I mean, they're usually the ones who get massacred by the Turks--or am I thinking of Armenians? But all the same, I don't like to think of it.
Sad cypress ()
Sunday, 11 May 14 09:50:23
"Not a civil word in his head, the old curmudgeon," said Nurse O'Brien.
The Listerdale Mystery ()
Wednesday, 14 May 14 22:38:06
With a serious effort James Bond bent his attention once more on the little yellow book in his hand.
The Hollow ()
Sunday, 18 May 14 09:00:03
Who was it who had said that the real tragedy of life was that you got what you wanted?
They came to Baghdad ()
Monday, 2 June 14 00:23:34
They got Bernadotte in Palestine.
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ()
Friday, 6 June 14 00:45:27
Fortunately, there are some terrific sources of outstanding product talent in places such as India, Eastern Europe (especially the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), Northern Europe (especially the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany), Israel, China, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. I know some amazing people in every one of these locations. One of the best teams I ever had the privilege to lead had members spread across Sweden, Silicon Valley, Boston, and India.
Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt ()
Sunday, 15 June 14 22:28:17
His favorite paper to pass out was “How Complex Systems Fail,” an eighteen-bullet-point summary by Richard I. Cook, now a professor of health care systems safety in Sweden.
Deep Down (A Jack Reacher short story) (Jack Reacher Short Stories) ()
Monday, 16 June 14 09:51:58
There were things Reacher didn’t like to do. Running was one of them.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 17 June 14 17:29:26
When the results came in, they revealed an enormous performance gap. The best outperformed the worst by a 10:1 ratio. The top programmers were also about 2.5 times better than the median. When DeMarco and Lister tried to figure out what accounted for this astonishing range, the factors that you’d think would matter—such as years of experience, salary, even the time spent completing the work—had little correlation to outcome. Programmers with ten years’ experience did no better than those with two years. The half who performed above the median earned less than 10 percent more than the half below—even though they were almost twice as good. The programmers who turned in “zero-defect” work took slightly less, not more, time to complete the exercise than those who made mistakes.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 17 June 14 20:53:49
Overarousal interferes with attention and short-term memory—key components of the ability to speak on the fly.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 17 June 14 21:26:58
By age four, according to Kochanska, these same kids are less likely than their peers to cheat or break rules, even when they think they can’t be caught.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 17 June 14 21:50:47
Behavioral economists have long observed that executives buying companies can get so excited about beating out their competitors that they ignore signs that they’re overpaying.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 17 June 14 21:54:44
Extroverts tend to experience more pleasure and excitement than introverts
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 17 June 14 21:56:39
be drawn from time to time to sex, and parties, and status, but the kick they get will be relatively small, so they are not going to break a leg to get there.”
Sundiver ()
Friday, 20 June 14 12:10:19
Fagin spoke clearly, but with an uncontrolled singsong quality which made his accent sound like mixed Swedish and Cantonese.
The Uplift War ()
Saturday, 28 June 14 21:30:21
When skin cells buckled outward it led to feathers. When they buckled inward there was hair. When they thickened, flat and hard, the animal had scales.
The Uplift War ()
Sunday, 29 June 14 15:14:53
the chaos at the top had begun affecting those lower down in the ranks.
After the funeral ()
Friday, 4 July 14 06:48:31
"You stick out in a country place,"
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Sunday, 6 July 14 23:48:57
“After a talk, I’m in bathroom stall number nine,” Little once told Peter Gzowski, one of Canada’s most eminent talk-show hosts.
“After a show, I’m in stall number eight,” replied Gzowski, not missing a beat.
“After a show, I’m in stall number eight,” replied Gzowski, not missing a beat.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Monday, 7 July 14 00:14:19
“People who tend to [suppress their negative emotions] regularly,” concludes Grob, “might start to see the world in a more negative light.”
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Sunday, 13 July 14 21:31:04
But in sales there’s a truism that ‘we have two ears and one mouth and we should use them proportionately.’
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel ()
Saturday, 19 July 14 11:12:56
The few good annuities are bought, not sold; if an annuity produces fat commissions for the seller, chances are it will produce meager results for the buyer.
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel ()
Tuesday, 22 July 14 04:48:16
Thus the investor who permits himself to be stampeded or unduly worried by unjustified market declines in his holdings is perversely transforming his basic advantage into a basic disadvantage. That man would be better off if his stocks had no market quotation at all, for he would then be spared the mental anguish caused him by other persons’ mistakes of judgment.
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? ()
Sunday, 27 July 14 17:59:42
'On principle, I distrust people who have alibis,'
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ()
Wednesday, 30 July 14 07:05:26
MBWA. From the HP Way—Management By Wandering Around.
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel ()
Friday, 15 August 14 09:16:32
In June 1972 (just after Graham finished this chapter), a Federal judge found that NVF’s chairman, Victor Posner, had improperly diverted the pension assets of Sharon Steel “to assist affiliated companies in their takeovers of other corporations.” In 1977, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission secured a permanent injunction against Posner, NVF, and Sharon Steel to prevent them from future violations of Federal laws against securities fraud. The Commission alleged that Posner and his family had improperly obtained $1.7 million in personal perks from NVF and Sharon,
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel ()
Friday, 15 August 14 13:20:16
—and 35% of Performance Systems Inc. (name recently changed from Minnie Pearl’s Chicken System Inc.).”
The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel ()
Saturday, 16 August 14 09:26:20
study by BusinessWeek found that from 1995 through 2001, 61% out of more than 300 large mergers ended up destroying wealth for the shareholders of the acquiring company—a condition known as “the winner’s curse” or “buyer’s remorse.”
At Bertram's Hotel ()
Monday, 18 August 14 01:32:55
Well, he thought to himself, better that than one of those pop singers or crooners or longhaired Beatles or whatever they called themselves. Luscombe was old-fashioned in his views of young men.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Tuesday, 19 August 14 23:58:32
Introverts often have one or two deep interests that are not necessarily shared by their peers. Sometimes they’re made to feel freaky for the force of these passions, when in fact studies show that this sort of intensity is a prerequisite to talent development.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ()
Thursday, 21 August 14 01:00:10
Some people act like extroverts, but the effort costs them in energy, authenticity, and even physical health.
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ()
Friday, 29 August 14 06:48:51
Unfortunately, too often the process of deciding whether or not to build a product is left to intuition (or worse, a large customer will offer to fund a “special,” and this becomes the basis for a product effort).
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street ()
Sunday, 5 October 14 07:06:03
All the evidence suggests that communication between people by whatever means, far from simply accomplishing its purpose, invariably breeds the need for more.)
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street ()
Monday, 6 October 14 00:02:28
Various magazine articles have predicted nothing less than the disappearance of the book as it now exists, and pictured the library of the future as a sort of monster computer capable of storing and retrieving the contents of books electronically and xerographically.
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street ()
Wednesday, 8 October 14 00:25:14
“The danger in ingenious hardware is that it distracts attention from education. What good is a wonderful machine if you don’t know what to put on it?”
Sleeping Murder ()
Saturday, 11 October 14 00:44:14
You ought to have bunny shoes, with rabbits on them.
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street ()
Thursday, 16 October 14 23:45:37
and with strong feelings about what it regards as business ethics. “We were exceptionally upset by what Wohlgemuth did,” a Goodrich executive of long standing
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Saturday, 18 October 14 09:21:02
I needed, urgently, to be alone and come to terms with this incredible happiness.
Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street ()
Sunday, 19 October 14 10:24:26
before the Norman Conquest, when the Saxon kings issued silver pennies—called “sterlings” or “starlings” because they sometimes had stars inscribed on them—of which two hundred and forty equalled one pound of pure silver.
Hercule Poirot's early cases ()
Tuesday, 28 October 14 00:05:40
meanness. It is the business sense. If I were a millionaire, I would pay only what was just and right.'
Hercule Poirot's early cases ()
Wednesday, 29 October 14 00:39:25
pusillanimous
Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain ()
Thursday, 30 October 14 08:05:13
Churchill sensed that a primitive destructive power had been unleashed which corrupted the mind in its seductive simplicity and corroded the soul through its pseudo-Darwinistic rejection of morality.
Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain ()
Thursday, 30 October 14 08:27:34
if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘this was their finest hour.’
Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain ()
Saturday, 1 November 14 09:30:18
Avoidance of reality was of the very essence of Nazism
Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain ()
Saturday, 8 November 14 22:11:02
The Flying Personnel Research Committee investigated the problem of flying stress and concluded that more stress was caused by being on stand-by than by flying.
Curtain: Poirot's last case ()
Sunday, 9 November 14 11:07:18
Hercule Poirot was dead
Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain ()
Monday, 10 November 14 00:32:44
Incensed, Göring sent thirty-two Bf 110s of II./ZG1 on a mission to deliberately violate Swiss airspace and provoke a combat. They orbited the Jura mountains and succeeded in getting attacked by fourteen Swiss Bf 109s, which shot down four of them and chased off the rest at a cost of one damaged 109.
Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain ()
Friday, 14 November 14 22:35:28
It was also perfect weather for tending the garden, strolling to the pub or launching major air attacks.
Monstrous Regiment ()
Sunday, 16 November 14 23:58:23
The little man did whatever stupid chore Strappi found for him, and he did them quickly, competently, and with every impression of someone happy in his work, and that left the corporal completely mystified.
Thief of Time ()
Saturday, 29 November 14 18:34:34
Susan was sensible. It was, she knew, a major character flaw. It did not make you popular, or cheerful, and—this seemed to her to be the most unfair bit—it didn’t even make you right.
Cryptonomicon ()
Sunday, 21 December 14 01:03:16
He is in the habit of doing a lot of vigorous walking. By the standards of the body nazis who infest California and Seattle, this is only a marginal improvement over (say) sitting in front of a television chain-smoking unfiltered cigarettes and eating suet from a tub.
Cryptonomicon ()
Tuesday, 23 December 14 00:01:20
Below them, one Chattan, a youngish RAF colonel who (Waterhouse is assured) accomplished some very fine things during the Battle of Britain.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Sunday, 18 January 15 09:57:29
but all I remember about him from Dinard was that he was said to be the boy who always laughed out loud whenever he saw a banana.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Sunday, 18 January 15 23:41:35
We were also taught the Swedish Country Dance,
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Thursday, 22 January 15 23:45:47
There are few things more desirable than to be an acceptor and an enjoyer. You can like and enjoy almost any kind of food or way of life. You can enjoy country life, dogs, muddy walks; towns, noise, people, clatter. In the one there is repose, ease for nerves, time for reading, knitting, embroidery, and the pleasure of growing things. In the other theatres, art galleries, good concerts, and seeing friends you would otherwise seldom see. I am happy to say that I can enjoy almost everything.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Sunday, 25 January 15 00:23:18
I was always prepared to like the next thing that came along.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Friday, 30 January 15 00:05:33
There is no gap in the world as complete as that between one who is sea-sick and one who is not.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Sunday, 1 February 15 10:43:53
Nowhere in the world is there such a good breakfast as tinned sausages cooked on a primus stove in the desert in the early morning.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Monday, 2 February 15 23:27:32
I don’t like crowds, being jammed up against people, loud voices, noise, protracted talking, parties, and especially cocktail parties, cigarette smoke and smoking generally, any kind of drink except in cooking, marmalade, oysters, lukewarm food, grey skies, the feet of birds, or indeed the feel of a bird altogether.
Final and fiercest dislike: the taste and smell of hot milk. I like sunshine, apples, almost any kind of music, railway trains, numerical puzzles and anything to do with numbers, going to the sea, bathing and swimming, silence, sleeping, dreaming, eating, the smell of coffee, lilies of the valley, most dogs, and going to the theatre.
Final and fiercest dislike: the taste and smell of hot milk. I like sunshine, apples, almost any kind of music, railway trains, numerical puzzles and anything to do with numbers, going to the sea, bathing and swimming, silence, sleeping, dreaming, eating, the smell of coffee, lilies of the valley, most dogs, and going to the theatre.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Tuesday, 3 February 15 23:28:07
The minority of what I call ‘the haters’ is quite small, but, like all minorities, it makes itself felt far more than the majority does.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Wednesday, 4 February 15 23:38:57
He read quickly, and seemed to have no preference whatsoever as to what he read: biographies, fiction, love stories, thrillers, scientific works, almost anything. He was like a starving man who would say that any kind of food is the same: you don’t mind what it is, you just want food. He wanted food for his mind.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Thursday, 5 February 15 20:54:08
I used the name of Mary Westmacott, and nobody knew that it was written by me.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Saturday, 7 February 15 00:57:07
would have not exactly to make a speech, but to say a few words–a thing I had never done before. I cannot make speeches, I never make speeches, and I won’t make speeches, and it is a very good thing that I don’t make speeches because I should be so bad at them.
Agatha Christie: An autobiography ()
Saturday, 7 February 15 01:14:00
Thereupon our second house-boy, Daniel, said he had a little knowledge of cooking and would carry on for the last three weeks of the season. We had permanent indigestion as a result.
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ()
Saturday, 7 February 15 09:45:14
But more generally, the truth is that many products are poorly done and, rather than improve a product to the point where it can generate real revenue and success, many organizations view it as easier to create a new product instead. But unless they change the way they produce that new product, they’re likely going to end up with yet another under-performing product in need of improvement.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Thursday, 19 March 15 08:25:17
You may have heard that we are living in a new era, but I strongly caution you that, in human history, many more “new eras” have been predicted than have ever come to pass.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Sunday, 22 March 15 23:40:54
Russia emerged—several times, only to submerge in recent years.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Wednesday, 25 March 15 07:20:05
Even worse, corporate managements were able to persuade professional investors to accept the canard that the creation of shareholder value is represented by the price of the company’s stock.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Wednesday, 25 March 15 07:20:38
The market’s embrace of that absurd theory in turn led to earnings management, “financial engineering,” debased account ing standards, and many ill-advised mergers and business combinations.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Thursday, 26 March 15 07:45:50
Albert Einstein said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex . . . it takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.”
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Saturday, 28 March 15 17:40:26
“the irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Saturday, 28 March 15 18:00:45
A long time ago, an attorney said that in selecting directors, the management companies were looking for Cocker Spaniels and not Dobermans. I’d say they found a lot of Cocker Spaniels out there.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Sunday, 29 March 15 09:31:43
I would like to see Vanguard stick to its roots. I’ m sure Bogle is a hard man to work for. People like that always are. I know. We have one in our family and the fact that he’s been dead for 53 years hasn’t lessened his influence much.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Sunday, 29 March 15 16:57:34
long-term level of P/Es has proved far more complex than that. Why? Because in recent years, earnings have been managed by far too many corporate managers, and consequently overstated.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Sunday, 29 March 15 17:01:16
If the consequences of being badly wrong about future returns would imperil your financial future, be conservative.
Common Sense on Mutual Funds ()
Sunday, 29 March 15 17:28:27
Chapter XXVII of the original edition of Security Analysis is conspicuous by its absence from the current edition. According to Raymond DeVoe of Legg, Mason & Company (“The Strange Case of the Missing Chapter”4), it was gradually abbreviated in subsequent editions, then omitted entirely in the most recent editions. That may be the most ominous sign of all.
Security Analysis ()
Tuesday, 31 March 15 23:50:34
May not the typical large and prosperous company be subject to a twofold limitation: first, that its very size precludes spectacular further growth; second, that its high rate of earnings on invested capital makes it vulnerable to attack if not by competition then perhaps by regulation?
Security Analysis ()
Wednesday, 1 April 15 00:01:04
Avoiding serious loss is a precondition for sustaining a high compound rate of growth.
Security Analysis ()
Wednesday, 1 April 15 07:35:37
Be forewarned, though; some executives will lie. Graham was particularly mistrustful of executives (he did not like to visit managements for this reason). He and Dodd warned that “objective tests of managerial ability are few.”
Security Analysis ()
Thursday, 2 April 15 08:16:50
Wall Street often speaks glibly of the “infallible judgment of the market” and asserts that “a stock is worth what you can sell it for—neither more nor less.”
Security Analysis ()
Friday, 3 April 15 09:32:28
Because figures are used in this process, people mistakenly believe that it is “mathematically sound.”
Security Analysis ()
Saturday, 18 April 15 08:12:04
The impersonal character of the securities market relieves this procedure of any ethical stigma, and it is considered merely as establishing a proper premium for shrewdness and a deserved penalty for lack of care.
Security Analysis ()
Sunday, 19 April 15 08:24:23
if the adviser knew whereof he spoke he would not need to bother with a consultant’s duties.
Security Analysis ()
Wednesday, 29 April 15 07:33:09
We and other investors today tend to focus on cash flow after capital expenditures (free cash flow), instead of earnings, to evaluate the investment merits of a business. One advantage of this approach is that it helps shortcut a good many games that management can play in reporting profits.
Security Analysis ()
Wednesday, 29 April 15 23:20:23
The Ivar Kreuger frauds, revealed in 1932, partook of this character, but these were quite unique in the baldness as well as in the extent of the deception.
Security Analysis ()
Thursday, 30 April 15 07:48:02
The basing of common-stock values on reported per-share earnings has made it much easier for managements to exercise an arbitrary and unwholesome control over the price level of their shares. Whereas it should be emphasized that the overwhelming majority of managements are honest, it must be emphasized also that loose or “purposive” accounting is a highly contagious disease.
Security Analysis ()
Friday, 1 May 15 10:25:43
When an enterprise pursues questionable accounting policies, all its securities must be shunned by the investor, no matter how safe or attractive some of them may appear.
Security Analysis ()
Friday, 1 May 15 20:59:53
Obviously it requires strength of character in order to think and to act in opposite fashion from the crowd and also patience to wait for opportunities that may be spaced years apart.
Security Analysis ()
Sunday, 3 May 15 14:20:16
It is a notorious fact, however, that the typical American stockholder is the most docile and apathetic animal in captivity.
Security Analysis ()
Wednesday, 6 May 15 07:46:56
It follows that the responsibility of managements to act in the interest of their shareholders includes the obligation to prevent—in so far as they are able—the establishment of either absurdly high or unduly low prices for their securities.
Security Analysis ()
Wednesday, 6 May 15 19:12:48
logic requires us to recognize that the improvement is prospective whereas the bank loans themselves are very real and very menacing.
Security Analysis ()
Saturday, 9 May 15 12:36:21
they have been exploited by the professional market operators, sometimes with the connivance of the corporate officials. The whole thing would be childish if it were not so vicious.
Security Analysis ()
Saturday, 9 May 15 23:36:06
The future is often no respecter of statistical data.
Security Analysis ()
Sunday, 10 May 15 09:17:03
Buying stock in new or virtually new ventures. This we can condemn unhesitatingly and with emphasis. The odds are so strongly against the man who buys into these new flotations that he might as well throw three-quarters of the money out of the window and keep the rest in the bank.
Dam Busters: The Race to Smash the Dams, 1943 ()
Sunday, 17 May 15 09:41:43
The Butt Report of the previous June, instigated by Lord Cherwell, had shown, from the study of some 600 photographs, that no more than a third of all bombs dropped by Bomber Command hit within five miles of the target.
Dam Busters: The Race to Smash the Dams, 1943 ()
Monday, 18 May 15 05:20:24
The bald facts were that less than half of the crews survived their first tour of thirty ops, and only one in five made it through a second of twenty.
Surface Detail ()
Wednesday, 27 May 15 00:09:20
Other hopefuls accidentally – or by demented design – blew themselves up or poisoned themselves or their birthplace, or contrived some other usually highly avoidable catastrophe for themselves.
Surface Detail ()
Wednesday, 3 June 15 07:30:24
To a gun, all problems resolved into what could be shot at.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Saturday, 6 June 15 09:55:43
dominated by Daniel Kahneman, the pioneer of the ideas on irrational behavior under uncertainty).
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Saturday, 6 June 15 10:18:51
This category of people includes Karl Popper (falsificationism and distrust of intellectual “answers,” actually of anyone who is confident that he knows anything with certainty), Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman (suspicion of governments), Adam Smith (intention of man), Herbert Simon (bounded rationality), Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (heuristics and biases), the speculator George Soros, etc.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Saturday, 6 June 15 14:19:27
Psychologists have shown that most people prefer to make $70,000 when others around them are making $60,000 than to make $80,000 when others around them are making $90,000.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Saturday, 6 June 15 16:17:14
As they say, marketing is everything; these guys do not know how to sell themselves.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Saturday, 6 June 15 16:37:29
Furthermore, What sounds intelligent in a conversation or a meeting, or, particularly, in the media, is suspicious.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Sunday, 7 June 15 07:46:24
(If you think that you can control your emotions, think that some people also believe that they can control their heartbeat or hair growth.)
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Sunday, 7 June 15 07:53:40
For instance, what struck me while reading Richard Dawkins’ Selfish Gene is that, although the text does not exhibit a single equation, it seems as if it were translated from the language of mathematics.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Thursday, 11 June 15 16:35:41
The virtue of capitalism is that society can take advantage of people’s greed rather than their benevolence,
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Friday, 12 June 15 10:56:33
It is better to have a handful of enthusiastic advocates than hordes of people who appreciate your work—better to be loved by a dozen than liked by the hundreds.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Friday, 12 June 15 11:12:54
is extremely readable for someone outside of psychology, unlike papers in conventional economics and finance that even people in the field have difficulty reading (as the discussions are jargon-laden and heavily mathematical to give the illusion of science).
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Friday, 12 June 15 11:28:43
its logical limit we would realize that, because of this resetting, wealth itself does not really make one happy (above, of course, some subsistence level); but positive changes in wealth may, especially if they come as “steady” increases.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Friday, 12 June 15 15:58:10
we call that “corporate political skill.” These are people mostly trained at using PowerPoint presentations.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Friday, 12 June 15 16:03:35
but economics is a narrative discipline, and explanations are easy to fit retrospectively.
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets (Incerto) ()
Friday, 12 June 15 16:25:20
compress all this business of randomness into a few sentences, so even an MBA can understand it (surprisingly, MBAs, in spite of the insults, represent a significant portion of my readership, simply because they think that my ideas apply to other MBAs and not to them).
The Hydrogen Sonata: A Culture Novel (Culture series) ()
Tuesday, 16 June 15 19:12:08
Also, faith is belief without reason; we operate on reason and nothing but. I have zero faith in my crew, just absolute confidence.”
Red Phoenix ()
Sunday, 21 June 15 22:23:04
we could ‘allow’ our MiG-29 instructors already in North Korea to serve as ‘volunteers’ and participate in the air battle.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Friday, 3 July 15 00:37:54
Huet, who lived into his nineties, had a servant follow him with a book to read aloud to him during meals and breaks and thus avoid lost time.
On Wings of Eagles ()
Sunday, 12 July 15 09:53:04
(Coburn could never quite work out the family relationships of Iranians: they seemed to use the word ‘cousin’ rather loosely.)
On Wings of Eagles ()
Sunday, 12 July 15 17:46:36
They followed him. It’s the mood they’re in, he thought; they’ll follow anyone who seems to know where to go.
On Wings of Eagles ()
Monday, 13 July 15 23:32:31
It was like the joke about the tourist who asks a farmer for directions to London, and the farmer replies: ‘If I was going to London I wouldn’t start from here.’
The Minotaur ()
Wednesday, 5 August 15 08:01:40
Sounds like something Tom Clancy dreamed up after he had a bad pizza.”
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Wednesday, 26 August 15 07:57:12
Mother Nature destined us to derive enjoyment from a steady flow of pleasant small, but frequent, rewards.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Monday, 31 August 15 23:46:04
When you develop your opinions on the basis of weak evidence, you will have difficulty interpreting subsequent information that contradicts these opinions, even if this new information is obviously more accurate.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Tuesday, 1 September 15 08:30:52
Experts who tend to be … not experts: stockbrokers, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, college admissions officers, court judges, councilors, personnel selectors, intelligence analysts (the CIA’s record, in spite of its costs, is pitiful), unless one takes into account some great dose of invisible prevention.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Wednesday, 2 September 15 00:17:09
female is expected to die at around 79, according to insurance tables. When she reaches her 79th birthday, her life expectancy, assuming that she is in typical health, is another 10 years. At the age of 90, she should have another 4.7 years to go. At the age of 100, 2.5 years. At the age of 119, if she miraculously lives that long, she should have about nine months left.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Wednesday, 2 September 15 08:26:18
Being an executive does not require very developed frontal lobes, but rather a combination of charisma, a capacity to sustain boredom, and the ability to shallowly perform on harrying schedules.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Saturday, 5 September 15 00:00:28
Some parts of it appear to be linear and we are fooled by extrapolating in a direct line.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Sunday, 6 September 15 11:54:24
dictatorships that do not appear volatile, like, say, Syria or Saudi Arabia, face a larger risk of chaos
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Monday, 7 September 15 23:41:34
Of the five hundred largest U.S. companies in 1957, only seventy-four were still part of that select group, the Standard and Poor’s 500, forty years later.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Monday, 7 September 15 23:55:07
It was calculated that actors who win an Oscar tend to live on average about five years longer than their peers who don’t.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Thursday, 10 September 15 23:32:45
Paul Ormerod’s Why Most Things Fail.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Saturday, 12 September 15 00:05:07
(you can always mention Wittgenstein since he is vague enough to always seem relevant).
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ()
Thursday, 17 September 15 00:10:10
(people are almost always only convinced of what they already know).
Agent to the Stars ()
Wednesday, 30 September 15 08:26:40
"Particularly in Los Angeles, where you basically have to put a gun to peoples' heads to make them read."
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ()
Sunday, 4 October 15 08:49:41
your colleagues view themselves as much more like your target customer than they really are (or think they understand the target customer much more than they really do).
Catilina's Riddle: A Novel of Ancient Rome (The Roma Sub Rosa Series Book 3) ()
Monday, 4 January 16 22:59:16
“The man who travels alone has a fool for a companion,”
The Three-Body Problem (2014) ()
Sunday, 10 January 16 23:22:41
13 Author’s Note: See Isaac Asimov’s short story “The Billiard Ball.”
Hangman's Holiday ()
Sunday, 24 January 16 18:42:50
‘I keeps my ’ealth, sir, I am glad to say, though stouter than I used to be. Nine of them does ’ave a kind of spreading action on the figure.
In the Teeth of the Evidence ()
Thursday, 4 February 16 23:49:37
The game’s not what it was when I was a lad. Too much commercialism, and enough back-biting to stock an old maids’ tea-party.’
In the Teeth of the Evidence ()
Tuesday, 9 February 16 08:45:46
Honour and uprightness, coupled with a healthy lack of imagination, have made this country what it is.’
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing ()
Wednesday, 10 February 16 07:24:14
But I do imply that the average analyst is just that—a well-paid and usually highly intelligent person who has an extraordinarily difficult job and does it in a rather mediocre fashion.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing ()
Thursday, 11 February 16 00:35:54
Indeed, the analysts’ strong buy recommendations underperformed the market as a whole by 3 percent per month, while their sell recommendations outperformed the markets by 3.8 percent per month.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Sunday, 21 February 16 09:32:37
J. R. R. Tolkien, Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, who – sadly perhaps for codebreaking but not for the world of literature – eventually elected to remain at Oxford and write Lord of the Rings rather than join his fellow academics at Bletchley.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Sunday, 21 February 16 21:13:22
Birch thought it could be broken because it had to be broken and Turing thought it could be broken because it would be so interesting to break it.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Monday, 22 February 16 00:37:01
use by the police troops in the occupied areas of the Soviet Union. They switched from the double transposition system to a system known as Double Playfair,
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Wednesday, 24 February 16 07:30:08
They let it run for about four hours, repeating the processes every half hour, and to their amazement, it gave the same answer every time.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Wednesday, 24 February 16 23:53:36
We were overworked and exhausted, and having to teach people who barely knew where Europe was, was the last straw.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Thursday, 25 February 16 07:37:22
Messages decyphered previously by British and US codebreakers had shown that the Japanese would have surrendered before the bombs were dropped if the Allies had been prepared to assure them that the Emperor could remain on the throne. Given that they received this assurance in the subsequent peace deal, it is impossible to comprehend why the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inflicted on the Japanese.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Thursday, 25 February 16 07:55:25
For many years, largely the result of a more lax US approach to releasing historical information, there was a general belief that the Americans broke the Japanese codes and cyphers.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Thursday, 25 February 16 07:56:42
Quite aside from the codebreaking triumphs, there is the simple fact that Bletchley Park was the birthplace of the modern computer. The creation of Colossus was a tremendous achievement and if that was all that had happened at Bletchley Park it would still now be hailed as a demonstration of British brilliance.
The Secrets of Station X: How the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win the war ()
Thursday, 25 February 16 08:01:05
refusing further promotion so as to remain at the coalface.
Call to Arms (Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 2) ()
Tuesday, 1 March 16 07:50:39
“Lead battleship is firing, sir!” Barrett said. “Forward laser battery. Thirty seconds to impact.”
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love ()
Friday, 4 March 16 07:23:17
You need to make sure your charter users and customers are truly from your target market. It’s easy to end up with early adopters, who are much more tolerant and can easily lead to a product of interest only to early adopters
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Sunday, 6 March 16 01:51:58
Not territory; German expansion to the east could only be at the expense of Russian Poland, and Germany, he said, already had too many Poles.
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Sunday, 6 March 16 09:46:55
The colonial policy was a defensive stratagem. It stimulated patriotism and produced votes; it created an enemy whom Germans could blame for the shabbiness of their overseas possessions.
Three Men in a Boat ()
Saturday, 12 March 16 07:14:50
Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Sunday, 13 March 16 16:29:42
A monarch ought to have the last word, but His Majesty always wants to have the first, and this is a cardinal error."
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Saturday, 19 March 16 06:33:50
But the Thirty Years War, which killed half the population of Germany in the seventeenth century,
The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable ()
Saturday, 26 March 16 00:23:48
― he invented things that anyone could have thought of, and men who can invent things that anyone could have thought of are very rare men.
The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable ()
Saturday, 26 March 16 12:08:15
What goes around, comes around. If not examined too closely, it passes for justice.
The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable ()
Saturday, 26 March 16 12:40:06
It is in the nature of things that those who save the world from certain destruction often don't get hugely rewarded because, since the certain destruction does not take place, people are uncertain how certain it may have been and are, therefore, somewhat tight when it comes to handing out anything more substantial than praise.
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Sunday, 27 March 16 08:14:53
Spectacles were not permitted at Eton,
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Monday, 28 March 16 23:37:16
Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself.
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Thursday, 7 April 16 23:41:50
was put up for Harrow. First, there was an entrance examination. "I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew," he wrote. "They always tried to ask me what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance.
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Friday, 8 April 16 19:22:14
He made a fortune developing Swedish railways that transported Swedish iron ore to ports for export.
Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ()
Saturday, 9 April 16 19:37:29
It was then that the unpoetic Sir Edward Grey uttered the lines which memorably signalled the coming of the First World War. "The lamps are going out all over Europe," he said. "We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Thursday, 14 April 16 06:34:31
You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Saturday, 16 April 16 08:24:23
The only reason, for example, that you are not a rattlesnake is that your mother and father weren’t rattlesnakes.
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Saturday, 16 April 16 08:35:43
that a person usually has two reasons for doing a thing: one that sounds good and a real one.
Three Men in a Boat ()
Sunday, 17 April 16 08:43:02
But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand.
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Tuesday, 19 April 16 00:03:41
Remember, we all crave appreciation and recognition, and will do almost anything to get it. But nobody wants insincerity. Nobody wants flattery.
Three Men in a Boat ()
Friday, 22 April 16 06:49:17
But in 200 years’ time it is more than probable that that dog will be dug up from somewhere or other, minus its legs, and with its tail broken, and will be sold for old china, and put in a glass cabinet. And people will pass it round, and admire it. They will be struck by the wonderful depth of the colour on the nose, and speculate as to how beautiful the bit of the tail that is lost no doubt was.
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Saturday, 23 April 16 08:51:48
Bernard Shaw once remarked: “If you teach a man anything, he will never learn.”
Ancillary Sword ()
Sunday, 15 May 16 00:25:29
Water will wear away stone, but it won’t cook supper.
Then We Take Berlin ()
Saturday, 21 May 16 16:53:29
who despised the poor as feckless and lazy, and who despised the rich as feckless and lazy.
Then We Take Berlin ()
Saturday, 21 May 16 16:55:35
He had few illusions, but he much preferred to hang on to them.
How to Win Friends and Influence People ()
Sunday, 24 July 16 00:27:23
Emerson said: “Every man I meet is my superior in some way, In that, I learn of him.”
Grisfesten ()
Friday, 26 August 16 23:29:50
För en tid sedan, förmodligen ganska länge sedan, hade lägenhetsinnehavaren eller någon annan ätit sill, Fiskebrödernas Matjes, direkt ur burken. Gaffeln simmade i spadet som en varnande illustration till de katastrofala sociala följderna av bristande bordsskick.
Grisfesten ()
Saturday, 27 August 16 12:59:08
Tur att de har starka fötter – man får springa mycket när man inte tänker.
The Fuller Memorandum: Book 3 in the Laundry Files ()
Saturday, 17 September 16 13:23:51
Her close-trimmed nails are smoothly sheathed in enamel the color of overripe grapes:
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution ()
Tuesday, 20 September 16 19:03:38
As economists are fond of quoting from Robert Heinlein, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ()
Wednesday, 19 October 16 07:58:04
Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniencies, and amusements of human life.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ()
Tuesday, 25 October 16 00:02:37
Many workmen could not subsist a week, few could subsist a month, and scarce any a year, without employment.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ()
Wednesday, 26 October 16 00:40:27
Nor in the present times is this increase principally owing to the continual importation of new inhabitants, but to the great multiplication of the species. Those who live to old age, it is said, frequently see there from fifty to a hundred, and sometimes many more, descendants from their own body
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ()
Saturday, 29 October 16 08:50:54
It is a common and even a popular opinion in the country, that it is going backwards; an opinion which I apprehend, is ill-founded, even with regard to France,
Three Men in a Boat ()
Wednesday, 2 November 16 23:54:21
People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ()
Sunday, 25 December 16 10:21:11
It seems absurd at first sight, that we should despise their persons, and yet reward their talents with the most profuse liberality.
Golden Son ()
Wednesday, 28 December 16 00:43:03
“And that makes him dangerous. Liars make the best promises.”
The Whistler ()
Friday, 30 December 16 18:59:59
The truth was that, at the age of thirty-six, Lacy was content to live alone, to sleep in the center of the bed, to clean up only after herself, to make and spend her own money, to come and go as she pleased, to pursue her career without worrying about his, to plan her evenings with input from no one else, to cook or not to cook, and to have sole possession of the remote control.
Three Men in a Boat ()
Sunday, 22 January 17 23:24:37
It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.
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