History Quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

15 History quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

All History quotes Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s page

Nassim Nicholas Taleb treats History as a playground of chance and consequence. In these fifteen remarks he dissects how randomness and human bias intertwine, delivering a thought‑provoking take that challenges conventional narratives.

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History doesn't crawl; it leaps.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“it is easy to see that history is truly written by losers with time on their hands and a protected academic position.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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The inability to predict outliers implies the inability to predict the course of history

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“I know that history will be dominated by an improbable event, I just don't know what that event will be.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“I know that history is going to be dominated by an improbable event, I just don’t know what that event will be.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Banks have never made money in the history of banking, losing the equivalent of all their past profits periodically - while bankers…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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In economic life and history more generally, just about everything of consequence comes from black swans; ordinary events have paltry effects in…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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We glorify those who left their names in history books at the expense of those contributors about whom our books are silent.…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events, [...] The generator of historical events is different…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“Learn to read history, get all the knowledge you can, do not frown on the anecdote, but do not draw any causal…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Only in recent history has "working hard" signaled pride rather than shame for lack of talent, finesse and, mostly, sprezzatura .

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“Until recent history, the central state represented about 5 percent of the economy. ...and further, governments were sufficiently distracted by war to leave…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“Actually my father kept hinting to me the problem of getting good grades himself: the person who was at the exact bottom…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Wittgenstein's ruler: Unless you have confidence in the ruler's reliability, if you use a ruler to measure a table you may also be using…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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In politics we face the choice between warmongering, nation-state loving, big-business agents on one hand; and risk-blind, top-down, epistemic arrogant big servants of large…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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My nightmare scenario is that the government saves Citibank once again, as well as the other banks, and business resumes as usual. Then, the…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Using, as an excuse, others' failure of common sense is in itself a failure of common sense.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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You know, children philosophize more than adults - and they are critical of adults.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“Suckers think that you cure greed with money, addiction with substances, expert problems with experts, banking with bankers, economics with economists, and debt crises…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“One needs to go out and buy a lottery ticket in order to win. Does it mean that the work involved in the trip…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Individuals should think about the worst-case scenarios and plan for them. The world will be crazier than you think it will be. Put money…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“If you are looking for your misplaced wallet in your living room, in a trial and error mode, you exercise rationality by not looking…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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“Most humans manage to squander their free time, as free time makes them dysfunctional, lazy, and unmotivated—the busier they get, the more active they…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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We learn the most from fools ... yet we pay them back with the worst ingratitude.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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