Dan Ariely

humans rarely choose things in absolute terms.

people don’t know what they want unless they see it in context.

Understand that relativity is everywhere, and that we view everything through its lens—rose-colored or otherwise. When you meet someone in a different country or city and it seems that you have a magical connection, realize that the enchantment might be limited to the surrounding circumstances. This realization might prevent you from subsequent disenchantment.

“Tom had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.”

technology-related conference,

and one night over drinks I got to meet John Perry Barlow.

consultant for a few companies—

Wall Street darling

Stockholders lost their investments, retirement plans evaporated, thousands of employees lost their jobs, and the company went bankrupt.

description of his own wishful blindness.