Quotes from Ben Stein

The first step in getting what you want from life-decide what you want.

I am so used to having a comfortable life. What will it be like when I am no longer able to just buy anything I want?

It means zero to be against greed.

Somewhere there is a map of how it can be done.

It's really amazing that in the age of unbelief, as a smart man called it, there isn't even more fraud. After all, with no God, there's no one to ever call you to account, and no accounting at all if you can get away with it.

I think Darwinism as a theory explaining evolution within species is incredibly brilliant - just unbelievably, incredibly brilliant.

The sad fact is that spending rises every year, no matter what people want or say they want.

Nothing happens by itself... it all will come your way, once you understand that you have to make it come your way, by your own exertions.

We're a lazy, undisciplined generation. I don't exempt myself: I spend way too much, even though I make a good income.

Men and women succeed because they find a field of endeavor that matches their interests and abilities.

I'm not a Mensa member. I have no idea where that rumor came from. I never have been, and I doubt if I ever will be.

I'd say the main way people get into terrible financial trouble is just to spend too much money relative to their income, and that is an endemic problem in the United States of America, and that's the kind of thing that should be taught about in schools.

I was a trial lawyer. At the same time, I was a teacher. I taught about the political and social content of film for American University. Then I left and became a teacher at the University of California at Santa Cruz. I taught about the political and social content of film, but I also taught a course in law for undergraduates.

The people who did the collateralized mortgage obligations, sold them to pension funds, then sold them short, then bought credit default swap insurance on them, are just amazing. They are a law unto themselves.

Sleep more at night. If it's allowed at work or home, take a nap in the afternoon. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel.

If there's a recession, I'd buy stocks. That's when you make money: when markets are spooked.

I have always been very concerned that Darwinism gave the basic okay to terrible racism and to the idea of murder based upon race.

Could Congress really do its work if it held its sessions by teleconferencing? Could the Supreme Court? Nothing can replace the spark of intelligence that travels from person to person at meetings.

Running a real business is exacting, daunting, repetitive work. Even in Silicon Valley.

Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over gain, and you will grow stronger until have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.

A corporation's responsibility is to the shareholders, not its retirees and employees. Companies are doing everything they can to get rid of pension plans and they will succeed.

I have talent at playing myself. I don't have a very broad range, but at playing myself I am a wizard. It's more than fun; it's the best job on Earth.

The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.

It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated...it is finished when it surrenders.