When you are a pessimist and the bad thing happens, you live it twice, " Amos liked to say. "Once when you worry about it, and the second time when it happens.

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.

Lessen the odds are stacked against you, Use Cosmic Ordering.

I have always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of work of fiction should be to tell a story.

My wife and I have been together since 1986. I graduated in '86 and she graduated in '88. We began dating when she was 17. Actually she turned 18 when we started kissing and stuff.

Most Americans will let liberals and conservatives play their games because most Americans don't pay attention.

There are always a few such people who demand the utmost of life and yet cannot come to terms with its stupidity and crudeness.

If she and Sam ever had kids, they'd be gluten-intolerant out of self-defence.

Part of what I do comes from the fact that I don't know any jokes to tell. And when I do they're really flat and don't work.

Never waste a prayer on something that isn't important.

If you're going to make a movie for ten thousand you can talk everybody into doing it for free. You could make a really good-looking movie right for ten grand, if you have an idea.

You have to be really loyal to the people that supported you when you were coming up.