No knowledge is useless, with the exception of heraldry.
I've sort of escaped my background, as people often do, through art and culture.
To be a film-maker, you have to lead. You have to be psychotic in your desire to do something. People always like the easy route. You have to push very hard to get something unusual, something different.
It's a good place when all you have is hope and not expectations.
I grew up in a city, I'm a city person - I go on holiday and I'm bored.
I always felt it is not good if you feel like you would know how to do something. I've made mistakes of telling people: I know how to do this. And it should feel dangerous. That is the only way to stay alert, to keep the adrenaline running.
There's lots of things that can be solved with cash.
The premise of this book is that it is easier to recognize other people's mistakes than your own.
Some calamities - the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, 911 - have come like summer lightning, as bolts from the blue. The looming crisis of America's Ponzi entitlement structure is different. Driven by the demographics of an aging population, its causes, timing and scope are known.
It's my belief that history is a wheel. 'Inconstancy is my very essence,'? says the wheel. Rise up on my spokes if you like but don't complain when you're cast back down into the depths. Good times pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it's also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away.
Loneliness, when accepted, becomes a gift that will lead us to find a purpose in life.