Mitchell Zuckoff

“Bob Altman got nothing from the TV series 'M*A*S*H,' and the royalties for the theme song went to his oldest son, Michael, who wrote it as a 15-year-old poet!”

“We've suffered a 'Ponzification' of the economy in recent years, as bubbles have built up and then burst, and each time we act as though it's the first time.”

“Acting on the theory that sometimes luck is better than work, I randomly called several people named Dattilo in Kentucky. All were unfailingly polite, and none knew anything about a major with their last name who died in World War II. I also discovered that more Dattilos lived in Kentucky than I would have imagined.”

“No Ponzi schemer tells anyone exactly how it works. The purpose of a Ponzi scheme is to trick people, to take the money and run.”

“For starters, let's dispense with the cheap jokes about cannibalism. That means cracks about giving an arm and a leg - sorry - for a good book on the subject, or similar tasteless - sorry, again - attempts to make the subject more palatable - last one.”

“I think more and more, in places like Benghazi, in places like Iran, we have to be asking the question, can we trust the local government to protect our people?”

“I'm an ex-'Globe' guy. My friends are depicted in 'Spotlight.'”

“There are very few people whose names come to symbolize their achievement, even if it's a negative achievement.”

“Nathaniel Philbrick's 'In the Heart of the Sea' has rightfully taken its place as a classic for its literary merits. It has a special place in the cannibalism canon as well.”

“Sending a book out into the world is a lot like sending your child to the first day of kindergarten. You hope the other kids play nice and that she makes friends.”

“Every swindle is driven by a desire for easy money; it's the one thing the swindler and the swindled have in common.”

“As a journalist, you're always worried, 'Did I get the full story?'”

“I'm a huge Michael Lewis fan.”

“The State Department has promised they will never have another temporary mission facility like the one in Benghazi that is so lightly protected. But at the same time, history tends to repeat itself here, and so it might not repeat itself in exactly the same way as Benghazi.”

“Ponzi and all of his successors tap into a fundamental part of human nature. One part of our brain tells us this is too good to be true. The other side tells us this is too good to miss. The key to any con is getting a mark to tip to the too-good-to-miss side.”

“This is not a documentary. Are there essential truths that are captured by this movie? I think unquestionably the answer is yes. Do you have to change certain things to make it work? The book is called '13 Hours'; the movie is two hours long.”

“I was researching a different World War II story when I came across an article in the 'Chicago Tribune' from June 1945 that knocked me for a loop. The article explained that a military plane had crashed in an impossibly remote valley of New Guinea that had been nicknamed Shangri-La.”

“New Guinea was sort of a graveyard for planes.”

“I know that plenty of folks have issues with Social Security, but I'd urge them to confront it on its own terms. Calling it a Ponzi scheme is misleading and does more to cloud the issue than it does to illuminate it. And yes, I do know that unless changes are made, the current system is unsustainable. But that doesn't mean it's fraud.”

“We all should respect Chris Stevens, who dedicated his life to trying to improve relations between the Arab world and the western world.”