Quotes by 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.”

“Things always become obvious after the fact”

“Reality is far more vicious than Russian roulette. First, it delivers the fatal bullet rather infrequently, like a revolver that would have hundreds, even thousands of chambers instead of six. Afte...”

“Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.”

“A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see”

“Meditation is a way to be narcissistic without hurting anyone”

“You cannot do anything with knowledge unless you know where it stops, and the costs of using it.”

“Just as no monkey is as good-looking as the ugliest of humans, no academic is worthier than the worst of the creators”

“If the past, by bringing surprises, did not resemble the past previous to it (what I call the past's past), then why should our future resemble our current past?”

“Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if thats what you are seeking.”

“A prophet is not someone who first had an idea. He is the one to first believe in it and take it to its conclusion.”

“What I learned on my own I still remember”

“The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist”

“Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market alo...”

“Life is about execution rather than purpose.”

“English does not distinguish between arrogant-up (irreverence toward the temporarily powerful) and arrogant-down (directed at the small guy).”

“When you beat up someone physically, you get excercise and stress relief; when you assault him verbally on the Internet, you just harm yourself.”

“It took us a while to discover that we do effectively think, but that we more readily narrate backward in order to give ourselves the illusion of understanding, and give a cover to our past actions.”

“In the past, only some of the males, but all of the females, were able to procreate. Equality is more natural for females.”

“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 ...”