Wisdom in fragments

Portugal is generally perceived as a symbol of tolerance, openness to the world and ability to interact with and serve as a bridge to different societies, cultures and religions.

Former Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)

Uncertainty and fear are enemies of economic growth. To change motivation, it is important to give hope and make people believe. But also to give concrete results. It is important to value the positive instead of only highlighting the worst.

Former Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)

In the advanced countries, it is a very challenging time for people in the middle-income and middle-education range. They are being subjected to greater competition from labour saving technology.

Nobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president

There are cultures in which a young man, to signal his interest in a woman, would camp outside her house for any number of days. The ones who aren't really interested say, '...to hell with it, it's not worth it!' – In this sense, signalling screens people out.

Nobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president

If very damaging, asymmetries can destroy markets- causing them to unwind from the top- this is the adverse selection problem. People with high quality products remove them from the market due to the price being an average… the quality drops, then the price drops again.. and you end up with a cycle.

Nobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president

I grew up in Canada and have a lot of friends in Argentina. In the early part of the 20th Century, Argentina was wealthier and had a higher per-capita income than Canada. The country had severe governance issues which impacted economic and social development.

Nobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president

There are two basic underlying reasons economies slow down. Firstly dysfunctional politics and secondly economic mistakes.

Nobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president

At the end of this century 40-50 years from now, the proportion of our world's population who live in the developing world will have gone from 15%, 200 years ago, to over 85% – we'll be left with a very different planet.

Nobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president

I looked at her and said, 'that's impossible! If I had stolen these pears from you… you would never have seen me!'

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

A child doesn't even question their situation- I was thrown into a situation and had to respond to it; if I needed food, I had to get food… If I needed shelter, I had to find shelter.

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

I learned to problem-solve and be self-sufficient at an early age, and that has influenced how I operate my lab. I try to make sure we generate as much of our research, data and activity in house as possible, so that we own what we produce.

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

I never had an ethical dilemma with what was going on as a child, it was about pure survival. The kids that survived were the ones who were clever enough to continually get a meal.

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

They received this 'animal' with no social upbringing and turned me into a human being.

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

I didn't have a childhood- I didn't play- every day was about survival. I was always moving to a different-place on a weekly/monthly basis.

Nobel Prize Winner for Gene Targeting in Mice

There is then a second order overconfidence where someone recognises a bubble but feels they will escape it when other people don't.

Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research

If you want to understand the mainsprings of human-action, then understanding the remembering self is more important than the experiencing self.

Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research