Nuggets and Aphorisms

There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government.

Milton Friedman, quoted here, via Cafe Hayek.

We were lucky enough to get our first home computer in 1978. It was huge, and it cost a lot of money, and we couldn't afford to eat well after that. I always liked computers because I thought you could a lot with them.

Larry Page, quoted in "The Google Story" by David Vise.

In the information age, it’s not just whose army wins, but whose story wins.

Joseph S Nye Jr, a professor of international relations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, as quoted in this article, which focusses on why it benefits the USA to welcome foreign students to its shores.

(Link via Abi.)

Those who are not in power always take an anti-reform position.

Sharad Pawar, in this revealing interview by Shekhar Gupta.

To be a modern politician is to have a schedule, not a life.

Charles Bowden, in “Being Max Cleland,” a profile of Cleland published in the August 1999 issue of Esquire -- the American edition.

The quote, of course, strikes me as being true not just of politicians.