“ Just as no monkey is as good-looking as the ugliest of humans, no academic is worthier than the worst of the creators Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The rationalist imagines an imbecile-free society; the empiricist and imbecile-proof one, or even better, a rationalist-proof one. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ English does not distinguish between arrogant-up (irreverence toward the temporarily powerful) and arrogant-down (directed at the small guy). Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ My classical values make me advocate the triplet of erudition, elegance, and courage; against modernity's phoniness, nerdiness, and philistinism...many philistines reduce my ideas to an opposition of… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The author cites researcher David Howard's idea of post-traumatic growth. Howard contends that some individuals faced with a traumatic event actually develop new strength. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Most info-Web-media-newspaper types have a hard time swallowing the idea that knowledge is reached (mostly) by removing junk from peoples heads Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which nonnerds talked about love; alas, there was no drinking, and mercifully, nobody talked about love. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ My biggest problem with modernity may lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Suckers think that you cure greed with money, addiction with substances, expert problems with experts, banking with bankers, economics with economists, and debt crises with debt spending Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The best way to measure the loss of intellectual sophistication - this nerdification, to put it bluntly - is in the growing disappearance of sarcasm, as mechanic minds take insults a bit too literally… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ In poor countries, officials receive explicit bribes; in D.C. they get the sophisticated implicit, unspoken promise to work for large corporations. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Every social association that is not face-to-face is injurious to your health Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The imagination of the genius vastly surpasses his intellect; the intellect of the academic vastly surpasses his imagination Nassim Nicholas Taleb
