Satyajit Das on derivatives

Satyajit Das, author of "Traders Guns & Money - Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives", p.54-

I used to be responsible for showing the trainees around the trading floor. "Look, it's quite simple," I said, breaking down the hierarchy of the trading floor. "There are salespeople - they lie to clients. Traders lie to sales and to risk managers. Risk managers? They lie to the people who run the place - correction, think they run the place.  The people who run the place lie to shareholders and regulators." I remembered our quantitative colleagues. "I forgot the quants - our fabulous rocket scientists! When last heard from, they were trying to develope a model for lying,"
"And clients?" one of the trainees asked tentatively. I thought about it for a few seconds. "Clients. They lie mainly to themselves!" To enter the world of derivatives trading is to enter a realm of beautiful lies.