The financial crisis happened because no-one could actually say out loud how bad things were.

We are now so far advanced in our denial of evil that we want to rationalise it away.

It's a book that makes me laugh and think - it would be very hard to like someone who didn't enjoy Candide!

Rereading Candide, I was struck by the link between optimism and the optimal, the idea that we have been placed in this optimal world rather than some other.

Theatre within theatre, when characters sees themselves on stage, always raises philosophical questions of choice and free will.

I have adapted the whole book [Candid] into tweets of 140 characters, and these are being sent out daily, at the rate of eight tweets per day .

Candide is one of those books I read when I was young and that I come back to regularly.

In the business world, the idea of positive thinking is absolutely entrenched.

Also, everyone thinks they know Candide - you hear people described as 'Panglossian'. So if Candide appears on a poster, it feels familiar.

I think my biggest revelation was to write entirely from the heart, and to convey emotion, even when it meant forcing myself to feel uncomfortable in doing so.

If the foundation is firm the building can withstand calamities. The practice of yoga is the foundation so that the self is not shaken under any circumstances.

I like attractive people who aren't so terribly aware that they are attractive... people who aren't afraid to roll on the floor and make fools out of themselves.

The Devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to steal, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery; he tempted them to live independent of God.

I almost think of nerd brains as rattlesnake venom; like, you can milk it. You can milk the pulpy venom out of the nerd brain and use it for good if you want to.

Spiritual growth-looking inward-is replacing the pursuit of external power-reaching outward to manipulate and control-as the cure for the insecurity at the core of human experience.

Fight night is all about believing in yourself, believing in what you can do, and doing it.

On his teenage son: To be honest, I'm not sure the same kid comes home each night.

The field of artificial intelligence is pushing new boundaries.

Writing has been a way of explaining to myself the things I do not understand.