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1 " Things always become obvious after the fact "
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb
2 " 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. After a few dozen tries, one forgets about the existence of a bullet, under a numbing false sense of security. Second, unlike a well-defined precise game like Russian roulette, where the risks are visible to anyone capable of multiplying and dividing by six, one does not observe the barrel of reality. One is capable of unwittingly playing Russian roulette - and calling it by some alternative “low risk” game. "
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb , Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
3 " Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness. "
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb , The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms
4 " A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see "
5 " You cannot do anything with knowledge unless you know where it stops, and the costs of using it. "
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb , The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
6 " 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 that’s what you are seeking. "
7 " The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist "
8 " 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 alow you to put there. "
9 " 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. "
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb , Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
10 " 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. "
11 " Meditation is a way to be narcissistic without hurting anyone "
12 " Just as no monkey is as good-looking as the ugliest of humans, no academic is worthier than the worst of the creators "
13 " 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? "
14 " We have managed to transfer religious belief into gullibility for whatever can masquerade as science. "
15 " What I learned on my own I still remember "
16 " Life is about execution rather than purpose. "
17 " In the past, only some of the males, but all of the females, were able to procreate. Equality is more natural for females. "
18 " The next time someone pesters you with unneeded advice, gently remind him of the fate of the monk whom Ivan the Terrible put to death for delivering uninvited (and moralizing) advice. It works as a short-term cure. "
19 " The problem of knowledge is that there are many more books on birds written by ornithologists than books on birds written by birds and books on ornithologists written by birds "
20 " When you beat up someone physically, you get excercise and stress relief; when you assault him verbally on the Internet, you just harm yourself. "
