“ I am most often irritated by those who attack the bishop but somehow fall for the securities analyst--those who exercise their skepticism against religion but not against economists, social scientists… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ For I have a single definition of success: you look in the mirror every evening, and wonder if you disappoint the person you were at 18, right before the age when people start getting corrupted by lif… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ But never engage in detailed overexplanations of why something is important: one debases a principle by endlessly justifying it. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Not everything that happens happens for a reason, but everything that survives survives for a reason. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ I’ve looked in history for heroes who became heroes for what they did not do, but it is hard to observe nonaction; I could not easily find any. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the nonsucker, not exactly the same thing Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ The people I go after are the false experts, those who do not accept the limits of their knowledge. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ I drive a hybrid, moving into an electric car. I only drink tap water, never consume food that's travelled. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Simplicity has been difficult to implement in modern life because it is against the spirit of a certain brand of people who seek sophistication so they can justify their profession. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Those who were unlucky in life in spite of their skills would eventually rise. The lucky fool might have benefited from some luck in life; over the longer run he would slowly converge to the state of… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Someone with a low degree of epistemic arrogance is not too visible, like a shy person at a cocktail party. We are not predisposed to respect humble people, those who try to suspend judgement. Now con… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ People can't predict how ong they will be happy with recently acquired objects, how long their marriages will last, how their new jobs will turn out, yet it's subatomic particles that they cite as lim… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ When people get rich, they shed their skin-in-the-game-driven experiential mechanism. They lose control of their preferences, substituting constructed preferences for their own, complicating their liv… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Two weekends in Philadelphia are not twice as pleasant as a single one—I’ve tried. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ There is a saying that bad traders divorce their spouse sooner than abandon their positions. Loyalty to ideas is not a good thing for traders, scientists - or anyone. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Marketing is bad manners—and I rely on my naturalistic and ecological instincts. Say you run into a person during a boat cruise. What would you do if he started boasting of his accomplishments, tellin… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ True wealth consists in worriless sleeping, clear conscience, reciprocal gratitude, absence of envy, good appetite, muscle strength, physical energy, frequent laughs, no meals alone, no gym class, som… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
