“It takes a huge investment in introspection to learn that the thirty or more hours spent “studying” the news last month neither… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“It took us a while to discover that we do effectively think, but that we more readily narrate backward in order to… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Prediction, not narration, is the real test of our understanding of the world. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“don’t understand?” is, simply, work on the undesirable states of f(x). It is often easier to modify f(x) than to get better… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
If there is something in nature you don't understand, odds are it makes sense in a deeper way that is beyond your… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“The important difference between theory and practice lies precisely in the detection of the sequence of events and retaining the sequence in… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
In science you need to understand the world; in business you need others to misunderstand it. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“we can control a function of x, f(x), even if x remains vastly beyond our understanding.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Using, as an excuse, others' failure of common sense is in itself a failure of common sense. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
You know, children philosophize more than adults - and they are critical of adults. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
We learn the most from fools ... yet we pay them back with the worst ingratitude. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
