“Always remember that, in a modern environment, wars last longer and kill more people than is typically planned.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“A mild degree of unpredictability in your behavior can help you to protect yourself in situations of conflict. Say” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
Never take advice from anyone in a tie. They'll bankrupt you. Don't ask a general for advice on war, and don't ask… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
People have the problem of denial. This is one of the things I learned in Lebanon. Everybody who left Beirut when the… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“that in the midst of murders and civil wars, our republic became stronger [and] its citizens infused with virtues.… A little bit… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
“As a child of civil war, I disbelieve in structured learning—actually I believe that one can be an intellectual without being a… — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Copy Share Image
It might be useful to be able to predict war. But tension does not necessarily lead to war, but often to peace… — 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