Accounting, econometrics, and ... philosophy?

It's always best to start anything by considering one's philosophy. A lot of how and why I think what I think originates from my philosophy, which happily can be captured in a relatively small number of quotes. (I've never had a truly original thought in my life.) I actually read these quotes fairly often as a means of structuring my thinking, so--however strange it might seem for a site about accounting--this will give you a good idea of where the ideas come from at a basic level:

Quotes to live by (read daily for best effect) ...

“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”   
William Shakespeare (from "Macbeth")

“… I just cannot bear to be shut in. My endeavor shall be, in such future as stretches out its snowy and lilywhite arms to me before the nozh overtakes or the blood spatters out its final chorus in twisted metal and smashed glass on the highroad, to not get loveted again.”  Anthony Burgess (from "A Clockwork Orange")

" … I must despise the world for not perceiving that music is a higher revelation than any wisdom or philosophy … God is nearer to me than to others. I approach Him without fear, I have always known Him. Neither am I anxious about my music, which no adverse fate can overtake, and which will free him who understands it from the misery which afflicts others."
Ludwig von Beethoven

"Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure, nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing."  William Butler Yeats

"Who does nothing, makes no mistakes; who makes no mistakes, learns nothing."
Luca Pacioli

“Is't right, I ask, is't even prudence, to bore thyself and bore the students?”
Goethe (from “Faust”)

"From my childhood I lived in a world of books, and since I was taught by their help I could gain clear and assured knowledge of everything useful in life, I was eager to learn from them."  Rene Descartes

"Most people would rather die than think: many do."  Bertrand Russell

"Let us be up and doing with a heart for any fate, still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait."  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Quotes to research by (read in order for best effect) ...

"It is theory that decides what can be observed."  Albert Einstein

"If you want literal realism, look at the world around you; if you want understanding, look at theories."  R. Dorfman

"Logic merely sanctions conquests of the intuition."  J. Hadamard

" … for intuition, unsupported by logic, habitually assumes that everything is much nicer behaved than it really is."  Ian Stewart

"What are called the operations of the mind are merely the operations of language … . "
John Horne Tooke

"If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a different world."
Ludwig Wittgenstein

"The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for."
Ludwig Wittgenstein

"At a more advanced level, we have such tools as the equation or formula which enable [us] to learn in a few hours fundamental and pervasive features of the behavior of things which [we] could otherwise learn only imperfectly with great labor or not at all."  E. L. Thorndike

“It has been my experience that competency in mathematics, both in numerical manipulations and in understanding its conceptual foundations, enhances a person's ability to handle the more ambiguous and qualitative relationships that dominate our day-to-day financial decision-making.”  Alan Greenspan

"Mathematics … [is] a mirror, an incredibly pure mirror, of the relations that link the facts of our existence."  K. Knopp

"In science, what can be proved should not be believed without proof."  R. Dedekind

And a fascinating quote from a research colloquium ...

“We won’t solve this problem with theory, we need intuition and logic.”  Anonymous

That last one is a bit like “We don’t need a flashlight, we need batteries and a small light bulb.” don’t you think? :)

MMc
São Paulo