How could economics not be behavioral? If it isn't behavioral, what the hell is it?
Charlie MungerRead
What do you want to avoid? Such an easy answer: sloth and unreliability. If you're unreliable it doesn't matter what your virtues are. You're going to crater immediately. Doing what you have faithfully engaged to do should be an automatic part of your conduct. You want to avoid sloth and unreliability.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of reliability and diligence over mere virtue.
Charlie Munger highlights the significance of being dependable and hardworking in one's endeavors. He suggests that qualities like sloth and unreliability can overshadow any virtues one may have; if you fail to follow through on commitments, it can lead to failure, regardless of your innate goodness. Therefore, cultivating reliable behaviors and a strong work ethic is essential for success.
In practice
In a motivational speech to employees about the importance of work ethic.
How could economics not be behavioral? If it isn't behavioral, what the hell is it?
The world of derivatives is full of holes that very few people are really aware of. It's like hydrogen and oxygen sitting on the corner waiting for a little flame.
I believe in the discipline of mastering the best that other people have ever figured out. I don't believe in just sitting down and trying to dream it all up yourself. Nobody's that smart.
Economics is in many respects the queen of the soft sciences. It's expected to be better than the rest. It's my view that economics is better at the multi-disciplinary stuff than the rest of the soft science. And it's also my view that it's still lousy.
Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading.
Economics profession, they've been - they've been confident in various formulas, but economics is not physics. The same formula that works in one decade doesn't work in the next. Economics is a difficult subject.
Integrity simply means not violating one's own identity.
If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so.
In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it. Carry it by the comfortable handles of gratitude for what's positive and that it is not worse, rather than the uncomfortable edges of bitterness for the negatives and that it is not better.
God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.
A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.
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