“ Which brings us to the largest fragilizer of society, and greatest generator of crises, absence of skin in the game. Some become antifragile at the expense of others by getting the upside (or gains) f… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ When you don’t have debt you don’t care about your reputation in economics circles—and somehow it is only when you don’t care about your reputation that you tend to have a good one. Just as in matters… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ We notice what varies and changes more than what plays a large role but doesn’t change. We Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ We need tricks to get us there but before that we need to accept the fact that we are mere animals in need of lower forms of tricks, not lectures. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ They agree that chess training only improves chess skills but disagree that classroom training (almost) only improves classroom skills. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The notion of economies of scale—that companies save money when they become large, hence more efficient—is often, apparently behind company expansions and mergers. It is prevalent in the collective co… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The hippocampus is the structure where memory is supposedly controlled. It is the most plastic part of the brain; it is also the part that is assumed to absorb all the damage from repeated insults lik… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The entire notion of biography is grounded in the arbitrary ascription of a causal relation between specified traits and subsequent events. Now consider the cemetery. The graveyard of failed persons w… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Steve Jobs: People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Silver Rule (negative golden rule): Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you. Note the difference from the Golden Rule, as the silver one prevents busybodies from attempting to ru… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Recall that the fragile wants tranquility, the antifragile grows from disorder, and the robust doesn’t care too much. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Patients who spend fifteen minutes every day writing an account of their daily troubles feel indeed better about what has befallen them. You Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Our emotional apparatus is designed for linear causality. For instance, you study every day and learn something in proportion to your studies. If you do not feel that you are going anywhere, your emot… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ One needs to go out and buy a lottery ticket in order to win. Does it mean that the work involved in the trip to the store caused the winning? Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ One may have a million ways to explain things, but the true explanation is unique, whether or not it is within our reach. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Notice that close to two centuries ago people had an idealized opinion of their own past, just as we have an idealized opinion of today’s past. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Never hire an academic unless his function is to partake of the rituals of writing papers or taking exams. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Nation-states like war; city-states like commerce; families like stability; and individuals like entertainment, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
