Neuroscience shows us that habit formation is based on how rewarding something is, not willpower. Willpower isn't even in the equation. We like to think of willpower is something, but it's more myth than muscle.

I had to remain in war mode. I had to continue confronting my captors, not accept what was happening to me. The relationship I had with my captors was based on suspicion.

There is a significant part of the Greek economy- maybe 30-40%- is not in the 'official' books. That has to be reined in. To put this in context, if that is reined in… to a large extent, the revenue side of the Greek problem would be fixed.

We will not employ capital unless we can find an opportunity that has a minimum of 50% upside to our intrinsic value over the term of our investment.

Todays' politicians can't lead public opinion, because they're frightened of it – and we're so consumed by constitutional crises, that there's just no real chance that politicians can give these issues sufficient thought.

Art is a vocation for me, not a career, not a job… you wouldn't say to a nun. 'so, how did you get into God?'

I'm bad at grieving; perhaps that's why I keep going. Some call it resilience, but it's likely just escapism. When you keep moving, the wind moves behind you, and you leave behind who you once were and move towards something new.

It's a very precarious situation we're in right now; and the biproduct of our current policies is that a tidal wave of radioactive social problems is coming. I worry that we'll just repeat the mistakes of the past where drug addictions, drug related deaths, alcoholism and suicide spike out of control.

They should be stress-testing their balance sheets and portfolios under a range of negative scenarios, and have sufficient capital and liquidity to withstand scenarios that are far out on the tail of the distribution of possible outcomes. The stress tests should account for potential bubbles in global asset markets.

You can't be successful unless you're genuine as a human being and honest. The startups in our world that are really successful are both genuine and honest; they bring that pure level of passion to the table and they're very honest about the world around them.

Russia always seemed to me to have a problem accepting that you have to listen to the voice of smaller countries. Russia often seemed simply to assume that you get what you want if you're bigger, and more powerful.

At one site, a mature man carrying a white flag was shot dead by an Israeli soldier. To those less experienced or with a 'soft' generally compassionate outlook, this might immediately seem a clear case of unlawful killing – a 'war crime'. However, the general offered a different perspective. He considered the terrain and highlighted the dilemma faced by the soldier in high-risk situations: might the soldier be genuinely uncertain over whether the white flag genuinely signified surrender?