We love imperfection, the right kind of imperfection; we pay up for original art and typo-laden first editions. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

For more than a millennium the eastern Mediterranean seaboard called Syria Libanensis, or Mount Lebanon, had been able to accommodate at least a dozen different sects, ethnicities, and beliefs — it worked like magic. The place resembled major cities of the eastern Mediterranean (called the Levant) more than it did the other parts in the interior of the Near East (it was easier to move by ship than by land through the mountainous terrain). The Levantine cities were mercantile in nature; people dealt with one another according to a clear protocol, preserving a peace conducive to commerce, and they socialized quite a bit across communities. This millennium of peace was interrupted only by small occasional friction within Moslem and Christian communities, rarely between Christians and Moslems.

At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control.

Multiplicative generosity: limit your generosity to those who, in turn, given the circumstances, would be equally generous towards others.