“ Einstein’s remark that common sense is nothing but a collection of misconceptions acquired by age eighteen. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Education is an institution that has been growing without external stressors; eventually the thing will collapse. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Education has benefits aside from stabilizing family incomes. Education makes individuals more polished dinner partners, for instance, something non-negligible. But the idea of educating people to imp… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Cygnus Atratus In his Treatise on Human Nature, the Scots philosopher David Hume posed the issue in the following way (as rephrased in the now famous black swan problem by John Stuart Mill): No amount… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Curiosity is antifragile, like an addiction, and is magnified by attempts to satisfy it—books have a secret mission and ability to multiply, as everyone who has wall-to-wall bookshelves knows well. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Consider that all the wealth of the world can’t buy a liquid more pleasurable than water after intense thirst. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Consider a turkey that is fed every day. Every single feeding will firm up the bird’s belief that it is the general rule of life to be fed every day by friendly members of the human race looking out f… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Clearly, an open mind is a necessity when dealing with randomness. Popper believed that any idea of Utopia is necessarily closed owing to the fact that it chokes its own refutations. The simple notion… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ By all means, avoid words—threats, complaints, justification, narratives, reframing, attempts to win arguments, supplications; avoid words! Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ But the worst touristification is the life we moderns have to lead in captivity, during our leisure hours: Friday night opera, scheduled parties, scheduled laughs. Again, golden jail. This goal-driven… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ But I also buy the opposite argument that regulating street signs does not seem to reduce risks; drivers become more placid. Experiments show that alertness is weakened when one relinquishes control t… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Beyond books, consider this simple heuristic: your work and ideas, whether in politics, the arts, or other domains, are antifragile if, instead of having one hundred percent of the people finding your… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Being an executive does not require very developed frontal lobes, but rather a combination of charisma, a capacity to sustain boredom, and the ability to shallowly perform on harrying schedules. Add t… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Avoidance of boredom is the only worthy mode of action. Life otherwise is not worth living.) Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Aut tace aut loquere meliora silencio (only when the words outperform silence). These Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ Atât demersurile artistice, cât și cele științifice sunt produsul nevoii noastre de a reduce dimensiunile și de a impune lucrurilor o ordine. Gândiți-vă la lumea din jur, încărcată de trilioane de det… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ At the end, what matters is the strength of the string—not the wealth and power of the dining party. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“ At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control. The chief ethical rule is the following: Thou shalt not have antifragility at th… Nassim Nicholas Taleb
