“You know what's truly weird about any financial crisis? We made it up. Currency, money, finance, they're all social inventions. When the sun comes up in the morning it's shining on the same physica...”

“In a world so redolent with wonder, how can we allow ourselves to conduct our daily lives with so little insight, such absence of dignity?”

“The future is unwritten. there are best case scenarios. There are worst-case scenarios. both of them are great fun to write about if you' re a science fiction novelist, but neither of them ever hap...”

“I meant, tell me all about this steampunk thing! Gavin broke in. How does that concept work out for you people, here in Brazil?You dont know about steampunk? shouted Xavier, dubiously.Well, I dont ...”

“Eliza opened her furry black satchel. She pulled out a portable CD player. Gav, look here. Once, I loved this machine. Because it plays all my CDs. But nobody buys music in the stores any more! Eve...”

“She had Google, and she had Wikipedia. She could look up anything obscure, any words or phrases that she didnt understand. A romance novel was just a book, while the Internet was the Internet. The ...”

“For example, the supporters of tariffs treat it as self-evident that the creation of jobs is a desirable end, in and of itself, regardless of what the persons employed do. That is clearly wrong. If...”

“It is not good for man to be kept perforce at all times in the presence of his species. A world from which solitude is extirpated is a very poor ideal. Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, ...”

“As technology accumulates and people in more parts of the planet become interdependent, the hatred between them tends to decrease, for the simple reason that you can't kill someone and trade with h...”

“Rich people do not work for money, they are doing what they like to do”

“Why do we need money beyond a point? If we are free of ill health, enmity, and debt, is that not enough? Too much money only leads to less peace.”

“Nine out of ten significant people have to do with money or war!”