“ The stock exchanges have converted from open outcry where wild traders face each other, yelling and screaming as in a souk, then go drink together. Traders were replaced by computers, for very small v… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The scientific association with a big idea, the brand name, goes to the one who connects the dots, not the one who makes a casual observation—even Charles Darwin, who uncultured scientists claim inven… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer has a simple heuristic. Never ask the doctor what you should do. Ask him what he would do if he were in your place. You would be surprised at the difference. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The only definition of rationality that I’ve found that is practically, empirically, and mathematically rigorous is the following: what is rational is that which allows for survival. Unlike modern the… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The model was right, it worked well, but the game turned out to be a different one than anticipated. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The hidden benefit of antifragility is that you can guess worse than random and still end up outperforming. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The formation of our beliefs is fraught with superstitions—even today (I might say, especially today). Just as one day some primitive tribesman scratched his nose, saw rain falling, and developed an e… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The fastest way to become rich is to socialize with the poor; the fastest way to become poor is to socialize with the rich. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The fact that you survived is a condition that may weaken your interpretation of the properties of the survival, including the shallow notion of cause. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The fact that people in countries with cold weather tend to be harder working, richer, less relaxed, less amicable, less tolerant of idleness, more (over) organized and more harried than those in hott… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The curse of modernity is that we are increasingly populated by a class of people who are better at explaining than understanding, or better at explaining than doing. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The best way to verify that you are alive is by checking if you like variations. Remember that food would not have a taste if it weren’t for hunger; results are meaningless without effort, joy without… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The best way to prove the arbitrary character of these categories, and the contagion effect they produce, is to remember how frequently these clusters reverse in history. Today’s alliance between Chri… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The British government documents, as early as fifty years ago, an aim for education other than the one we have today: raising values, making good citizens, and learning, not economic growth (they were… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The Arabs have an expression for trenchant prose: no skill to understand it, mastery to write it. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Steve Jobs: «La gente pensa che essere concentrati significhi dire sì alla cosa sulla quale ci si deve focalizzare. Ma non è affatto così. Significa dire no ad altre cento buone idee. Dovete scegliere… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Some libertarians use the example of Drachten, a town in the Netherlands, in which a dream experiment was conducted. All street signs were removed. The deregulation led to an increase in safety, confi… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ So I stayed in the quant and trading businesses (I’m still there), but organized myself to do minimal but intense (and entertaining) work, focus only on the most technical aspects, never attend busine… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
