The Confidence Game Quotes

“trigger.”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time

“It wasn't about letting go of what you had. It was about letting go of the chance of winning and having to live with the regret.”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time

“Religion,” Voltaire is said to have remarked, “began when the first scoundrel met the first fool.”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time

“all.” There is no sense of guilt, but rather a sense of entitlement followed by regret at getting caught. “People like Stephen Glass and Jonah Lehrer are just smaller, less harmful versions of Madoff, but still in the same category. Like Lance said—all cyclists dope in that circuit. I got caught, whatever—that’s the only thing he’s sorry about.”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time

“Leadership and high-profile roles. Wall Street. Politics. Law. Test most any of them, and you’ll find a percentage of psychopaths and dark-triadists that makes Hare’s 1 percent estimate look naïvely low. When”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time

“Green and Brock, the study’s authors, called this “Pinocchio circling”: did any elements of the story signal falsehood akin to Pinocchio’s nose? The more engrossed a reader was in the story, the fewer false notes she noticed. The sweep of the narrative trumped the facts of logic.”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time

“The irony is inescapable. The same thing that can underlie success can also make you all the more vulnerable to the grifter’s wares. We are predisposed to trust. Those who trust more do better. And those who trust more become the ideal, albeit unwitting, player of the confidence game: the perfect mark.”
― Maria Konnikova, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time