Justin E.H. Smith:

Turning to empirical methods is valuable, but not at the cost of neglecting what we already know.

John Allen Paulos:

Unless we know how things are counted, we don't know if it's wise to count on the numbers.

Jeffrey Moore:

Do you know, or are you guessing? Do you know, or are you guessing? You're guessing, aren't you? No points! 0! You don't get any points for guessing!

Tom Friedman:

We're entering an era where being in politics is going to be more than anything else about taking things away from people. It's going to be very, very interesting.

Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris:

We can rely on accumulated data, but too often we don't. Why not? Because our intuitions respond to vivid stories, not abstract statistics.

Kyle Lundstedt:

From the lenders' standpoint, people who stay in their homes without paying the mortgage or actively trying to work out some other solution, like selling it, are "milking the process."

An exchange:

Charlie Rose: Don't you think we've milked this for about as much as we can, Richard?

Richard Florida: I hope not, Charlie. I hope not.

Richard Florida:

We have come to an economic juncture where we must re-examine even our most cherished beliefs.

Mark Foulon:

We have tried incremental steps and they have proven insufficient.

Paul Volcker:

The nature and depth of the financial crisis is forcing us to reconsider some of the basic tenets of financial theory.

Any thoughts -- any longings -- that participants in the financial community might have had that conditions were returning to normal (implicitly promising the return of high compensation) should by now be shattered.

Today's concerns may soon become tomorrow's existential crises.

Edward Chancellor:

There is a danger the proposed fiscal tightening in the eurozone will lead to further deflation and economic collapse. The Spanish government faces "the paradox of public thrift": the less it borrows, the more it will end up owing.

Decius:

Our job is to apply our well-earned cynicism and fail to follow the baby boomers off a cliff in their pursuit of some idealistic agenda.

Ridley Scott:

Cynicism will lead you to the truth. Or vice versa.

John Givings:

Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.