Steven D. Levitt

“For emotion is the enemy of rational argument.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Being confident you are right is not the same as being right.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Don’t listen to what people say; watch what they do.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“We are blind to our blindness.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“If you are willing to confront the obvious, you will end up asking a lot of questions that others don't.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Daniel Kahneman has written: “[W]e can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Human beings, for all our accomplishments, can be fragile animals. Most of us don't take criticism well at all.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Conventional wisdom in Galbraith's view must be simple, convenient, comfortable and comforting - though not necessarily true.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Few people think more than two or three times a year,” Shaw reportedly said.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“When moral posturing is replaced by an honest assessment of the data, the result is often a new, surprising insight.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Most of us want to fix or change the world in some fashion. But to change the world, you first have to…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Shaw reportedly said. “I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“But if you are hell-bent on persuading someone, or if your back is truly against the wall, you might as well give…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Roland G. Fryer Jr., while discussing his names research on a radio show, took a call from a black woman who was…

— Steven D. Levitt

“As we suggested near the beginning of this book, if morality represents an ideal world, then economics represents the actual world.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“One teenage boy, Amcher, had been named for the first thing his parents saw upon reaching the hospital: the sign for Albany…

— Steven D. Levitt

“The ECLS data do show, for instance, that a child with a lot of books in his home tends to test higher…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Morning robberies yield far more than afternoon robberies . . .' - When to Rob a Bank: A Rouge Economist's Guide to…

— Steven D. Levitt

“It has long been said that the three hardest words to say in the English language are I love you. We heartily…

— Steven D. Levitt

“The impulse to investigate can only be set free if you stop pretending to know answers that you don't. Because the incentives…

— Steven D. Levitt

“[...]if you are hoping to damage opponents' mental health, go ahead and tell them how inferior or dim-witted or nasty they are.…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Every time we pretend to know something, we are doing the same: protecting our own reputation rather than promoting the collective good.…

— Steven D. Levitt

“While one might expect that suicide is highest among people whose lives are the hardest, research by Lester and others suggests the…

— Steven D. Levitt

“The theme of Smith’s first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, was the innate honesty of mankind. “How selfish soever man may…

— Steven D. Levitt

“It is understandable, therefore, that the movement to stop global warming has taken on the feel of a religion. The core belief…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Here is the broader point: whatever problem you're trying to solve, make sure you're not just attacking the noisy part of the…

— Steven D. Levitt

“The non-profit industry itself, “the most dysfunctional $300 billion industry in the world,” as he saw it. Mullaney had come to believe…

— Steven D. Levitt

“How selfish soever man may be supposed,” Smith wrote, “there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the…

— Steven D. Levitt

“But as incentives go, commissions are tricky. First of all, a 6 percent real-estate commission is typically split between the seller’s agent…

— Steven D. Levitt

“When it comes to solving problems, one of the best ways to start is by putting away your moral compass. Why? When…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Some people would argue that we don’t do a very good job. But taking the long view, that is clearly not true.…

— Steven D. Levitt

“David Lester, a psychology professor at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey, has likely thought about suicide longer, harder, and from more…

— Steven D. Levitt

“The brilliant rationalist had encountered a central, frustrating tenet of human nature: behavior change is hard. The cleverest engineer or economist or…

— Steven D. Levitt

“All of us face barriers—physical, financial, temporal—every day. Some are unquestionably real. But others are plainly artificial—expectations about how well a given…

— Steven D. Levitt

“From 2002 to 2008, the United States was fighting bloody wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; among active military personnel, there were an…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Information is the currency of the Internet. As a medium, the Internet is brilliantly efficient at shifting information from the hands of…

— Steven D. Levitt

“Sometimes in life, going straight up the middle is the boldest move of all.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Ideas nearly always seem brilliant when they’re hatched, so we never act on a new idea for at least twenty-four hours.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“There are three basic flavours of incentive: economic, social and moral.”

— Steven D. Levitt

“Resources are not infinite: you cannot solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.”

— Steven D. Levitt