This is the central illusion in life: that randomness is a risk, that it is a bad thing. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
A country's assets reside in the tinkerers, the hobbyists, and the risk-takers. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I've debated many economists who claim to specialize in risk and probability: when one takes them slightly outside their narrow focus, but… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Philosophers talk about truth and falsehood. People in life talk about payoff, exposure, and consequences (risks and rewards), hence fragility and antifragility.… — 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… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
If you roll dice, you know that the odds are one in six that the dice will come up on a particular… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Muscles without strength, friendship without trust, opinion without risk, change without aesthetics, age without values, food without nourishment, power without fairness, facts… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“In a textbook case of naive empiricism, the author also looked for traits these millionaires had in common and figured out that… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Anything that provides you with very, very stable income, very stable conditions, maybe generally stable, that often, it masks real risks, risks… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
A system, artificially stabilized, and of course you have hidden risks under the surface, and you don't know where the risks are. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“While a ten-year survival rate for a trader is in the single digits, that of a risk manager is close to 100%).” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
It was obvious that their profits were simply cash borrowed from destiny with some random payback time. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
We should ban banks from risk-taking because society is going to pay the price. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Much of the research into humans' risk-avoidance machinery shows that it is antiquated and unfit for the modern world; it is made… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
If you take risks and face your fate with dignity, there is nothing you can do that makes you small; if you… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
The government-sponsored institution Fannie Mae, when I look at its risks, seems to be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, vulnerable to… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Many people keep deploring the low level of formal education in the United states (as defined by, say, math grades). Yet these… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“Nero believes that risk-conscious hard work and discipline can lead someone to achieve a comfortable life with a very high probability. Beyond… — 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
