It is not lust that disunites, dissolves and annihilates. It is rather the mesmerizing complications of sentimentality, artificial jealousies, words that inebriate and deceive, the rhetoric of parting and eternal fidelities, literary nostalgia—all the histrionics of love.

From the Futurist Manifesto of Lust, a polemic against the “false hypocritical modesty” of romantic love, written by an Italian fascist.

By yearend, investors of all stripes were bloodied and confused, much as if they were small birds that had strayed into a badminton game.

From Warren Buffett’s 2008 letter to the investors (pdf) at Berkshire Hathaway.

To smart people, the world can often times seem like a production of No Exit. That is, where hell becomes defined as being endlessly surrounded by cretins prattling on about topics of no import whatsoever.

My own away message, from a reader comment on this article about Ivy League dating (or lack thereof).