For those of us of a certain age, the image of Walter (avuncularity) Cronkite, sitting behind his desk, telling us about the world "the way it is," remains an enduring image of television news. One thinks of that teletype-machine sound behind him. (Was that fake, or was that the working office sound?) Here are three Cronkite quotes worth recalling. I grew my mustache when I was nineteen in order to look older. I never shaved it off even though it overran its usefulness many, many years ago. Once you get started in television, people associate you with your physical appearance — and that includes the mustache. So I can’t shave it off now. If I did, I’d have to answer too much mail. People who understand music hear sounds that no one else makes when Frank Sinatra sings. There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free.
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"Students like to say that they stage no confrontations because people avoid confrontations in modern life. “Modern life is so lonely,” they say. This is laziness. It’s the writer’s job to stage confrontations, so the characters will say surprising and revealing things, and educate and entertain us all. If a writer can’t or won’t do that, he should withdraw from the trade." - Kurt Vonnegut One of my Facebook friends posted this quote recently. I like it, and that will have to be my complete excuse for including it here.
A quotation from Zachary Karabell's book, Superfusion: How China and America Became One Economy and Why the world's Prosperity Depends on It (2009). [By] 2003, the U.S. economy had become a mystery to most of the people charged with explaining it [a mystery] that was perfectly captured by Alan Greenspan in testimony to Congress [two years later] when he confessed to confusion about the 'interest rate conundrum' of long-term rates staying flat even as central bank rates fluctuated widely. That conundrum has only become more prevalent since, and China and technology are the causes -- along with the inability of people and institutions to adjust their models and orthodoxies. The statisticians kept measuring what they could measure and therefore kept missing the radical shifts that had occurred.
A random quotation. “I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.” Von Hammerstein was a General under Germany's Weimar Republic, between the wars, resigning in January 1934, one year after the start of Hitler's Chancellorship.
"Most traders think there are two types of trades: winning and losing. Actually, there are four types of trades: winning trades and losing plus good trades and bad trades. Don't confuse the concepts of winning and losing trades with good and bad trades. A good trade can lose money and a bad trade can make money. A good trade follows a process that will be profitable (at an acceptable risk) if repeated multiple times, although it can lose money on any individual trade." - Jack Schwager