Susan Devy > Susan's Quotes

“Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know.”
― Michael Lewis, Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

“The men on the trading floor may not have been to school, but they have Ph.D.’s in man’s ignorance.”
― Michael M. Lewis, Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

“He was blessed with an unconventional mind, which overcame his conventional middle-class upbringing.”
― Michael M. Lewis, Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

“What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don’t need to make smart decisions—if they can get rich making dumb decisions?”
― Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

“In Bakersfield, California, a Mexican strawberry picker with an income of $14,000 and no English was lent every penny he needed to buy a house for $724,000.”
― Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

“Everywhere you turn you see Americans sacrifice their long-term interests for a short-term reward.”
― Michael Lewis, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World

“Nobody can avoid falling in love. They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love.”
― Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
― Lao Tzu

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
― Lao Tzu

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”
― Lao Tsu, Tao Teh Ching

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”
― Lao Tzu

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.”
― Lao Tzu

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”
― Lao-Tzu

“Silence is a source of Great Strength.”
― Lao Tzu

“Act without expectation.”
― Lao Tzu

“By letting go it all gets done.”
― Lao-Tzu

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!

Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don't care,
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.

Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.

Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharp;
I alone am dull.
Other people have purpose;
I alone don't know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless as the wind.

I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.”
― Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.”
― Lao Tzu

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”
― Lao Tzu

“It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

“You are a total stranger and you want to take my library book.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

“Remember that there is only one important time and it is Now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person with whom you are, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making that person, the one standing at your side, happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Emperor's Three Questions

“The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.”
― W. Somerset Maugham

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, Books and You

“As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

“How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil

“If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him, it's his fault, not hers.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil

“I had no illusions about you,' he said. 'I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed. But I loved you. I knew that your aims and ideals were vulgar and commonplace. But I loved you. I knew that you were second-rate. But I loved you. It's comic when I think how hard I tried to be amused by the things that amused you and how anxious I was to hide from you that I wasn't ignorant and vulgar and scandal-mongering and stupid. I knew how frightened you were of intelligence and I did everything I could to make you think me as big a fool as the rest of the men you knew. I knew that you'd only married me for convenience. I loved you so much, I didn't care. Most people, as far as I can see, when they're in love with someone and the love isn't returned feel that they have a grievance. They grow angry and bitter. I wasn't like that. I never expected you to love me, I didn't see any reason that you should. I never thought myself very lovable. I was thankful to be allowed to love you and I was enraptured when now and then I thought you were pleased with me or when I noticed in your eyes a gleam of good-humored affection. I tried not to bore you with my love; I knew I couldn't afford to do that and I was always on the lookout for the first sign that you were impatient with my affection. What most husbands expect as a right I was prepared to receive as a favor.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil

“It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.”
― W. Somerset Maugham

“When a woman loves you she's not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she's weak, she has a rage for domination, and nothing less will satisfy her.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence