“He was usually easygoing, one of those guys with little respect for authority because of a conviction that people in charge tend to do stupid things.”

“Folly tends to predominate over wisdom because it is usually easier to understand and more convenient (or exciting) to believe; but a little reflection usually sifts one from the other.”

“If you do something and people think you’re stupid, just go for crazy. You get more respect that way because nobody likes stupid people.”

“Why was the blind guy playing with matches, you ask? Because he's good at it. Anything to do with fire, igniting things, exploding things, things with fuses, wicks, accelerants… Iggy's your man. It's one of those good/bad things.”

“This is probably the advantage of being stupid. Stupid people just do. We tend to overthink. If we could eliminate the “over” and just think, then we could do, too. Only we’d be smarter doers because we’d be thinkers.”

“When people are suffering, they usually hurt the people closest to them, because those are the only ones left around.”

“As threats went, it was not subtle, nor was it original. But it was one of those things that had stayed around because it tended to work.”

“It is because nations tend towards stupidity and baseness that mankind moves so slowly; it is because individuals have a capacity for better things that it moves at all.”

“In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category?”

“It was so weird, because usually I was totally nervous talking to guys. But Eli was different. He made me want to say more, not less. Which was maybe not a good thing.”