159 Quotes by John Lanchester

From his dealings with his mother, Smitty had learned the following truth: the person doing the worrying experiences it as a form of love; the person being worried about experiences it as a form of control.

People would rather earn 60 grand in an area where their neighbours earn 40, than earn 80 in an area where their neighbours earn a hundred.

The organization is “committed to improving the state of the world.” In practice it is mainly a rich people’s club, committed to preserving the existing world order.

Arabella was good at making life seem easy, except when she suddenly and dramatically wasn’t.

The City is, in terms of its basic functioning, a far-off country of which we know little.

Economics as a discipline has in effect become the study of capitalism. The two are taken as the same subject.

How does the industry seek to master the risks? Through mathematics. The common-sense version of what sophisticated investors do is diversification, a technique so old it’s mentioned in the Talmud, where the strategy advocated is to have a third of your assets in trade, a third in cash and a third in land.

In other words, RBS had its origins in a failed speculation, a bail-out, and a financial crash so big it helped destroy Scotland’s status as a separate nation.

For he that hath, to him shall be given.