--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I attended a symposium, an event named…" description: "\"“I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which nonnerds talked about love; alas, there was no dr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg" --- # I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth… ![“I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which nonnerds talked about love; alas, there was no drinking, and mercifully, nobody talked about love.” quote by Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg) > ““I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which nonnerds talked about love; alas, there was no drinking, and mercifully, nobody talked about love.”” [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The anecdote highlights the irony of a scholarly gathering named after a historic drinking party, yet lacking both alcohol and romance discussion. **In simple terms:** A scholarly event named after a drinking party had no drinking or love talk. Key Takeaway Expect irony in themed events. Themes irony expectation academic culture Mood skeptical wry Type satirical observational When to use this quote - conference planning - academic seminars - themed gatherings Key Concepts cultural reference event naming social expectations Questions to Reflect On - Why do we expect certain content from themed events? - What does the lack of expected topics reveal? A Different Perspective The humor may obscure deeper critique of intellectual elitism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Academia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academia/) [Autism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/autism/) [Drinking party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking-party/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Modernity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernity/) [Nerd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nerd/) [Nerdiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nerdiness/) [Nerds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nerds/) [Symposium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symposium/) ## Related quotes > [If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/if-you-want-to-annoy-a-poet-explain-his-poetry/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/wit-seduces-by-signaling-intelligence-without-nerdiness/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [I have respect for mother nature's methods of robustness (billions of years allow most of what is fragile to break); classical thought is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/i-have-respect-for-mother-nature-s-methods-of-robustness-billions-of/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [Charm is the ability to insult people without offending them; nerdiness the reverse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/charm-is-the-ability-to-insult-people-without-offending-them/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“...my classical values make me advocate the triplet of erudition, elegance, and courage; against modernity's phoniness, nerdiness, and philistinism...many philistines reduce my ideas to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/my-classical-values-make-me-advocate-the-triplet-of-erudition/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [The Life and Soul, the man who will never go home while there is one man, woman or glass of anything not yet drunk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-whitehorn/the-life-and-soul-the-man-who-will-never-go-home-while-there-is-one/) [Katharine Whitehorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-whitehorn/) > [He's a great writer. If I didn't think so I wouldn't have tried to kill him... I was the champ and when I read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/he-s-a-great-writer-if-i-didn-t-think-so-i-wouldn-t-have-tried-to/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Don't bother me right now, I'm having a drinking alone party.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-bother-me-right-now-i-m-having-a-drinking-alone-party/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Wine is constant proof that God loves us and likes to see us happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/wine-is-constant-proof-that-god-loves-us-and-likes-to-see-us-happy/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/to-chase-the-glowing-hours-with-flying-feet/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [ \[N\]o party is any fun unless seasoned with folly. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desiderius-erasmus/n-o-party-is-any-fun-unless-seasoned-with-folly/) [Desiderius Erasmus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desiderius-erasmus/) > [Time flies when you are having fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/time-flies-when-you-are-having-fun/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [No man does right by a woman at a party.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-golden/no-man-does-right-by-a-woman-at-a-party/) [Harry Golden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-golden/) > [She had heard someone say something about an Independent Labour Party, and was furious that she had not been asked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/she-had-heard-someone-say-something-about-an-independent-labour-party/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [“In somber mood, I re-called my whole life up to this day, and my head spun with the buzzing of a hundred and one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ren-daumal/in-somber-mood-i-re-called-my-whole-life-up-to-this-day-and-my-head/) [René Daumal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ren-daumal/) ## More by Nassim Nicholas Taleb > [To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/to-become-a-philosopher-start-by-walking-very-slowly/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/wittgenstein-s-ruler-unless-you-have-confidence-in-the-ruler-s/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/in-politics-we-face-the-choice-between-warmongering-nation-state/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [My nightmare scenario is that the government saves Citibank once again, as well as the other banks, and business resumes as usual. Then, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/my-nightmare-scenario-is-that-the-government-saves-citibank-once/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [Using, as an excuse, others' failure of common sense is in itself a failure of common sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/using-as-an-excuse-others-failure-of-common-sense-is-in-itself-a/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [You know, children philosophize more than adults - and they are critical of adults.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/you-know-children-philosophize-more-than-adults-and-they-are-critical/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“Suckers think that you cure greed with money, addiction with substances, expert problems with experts, banking with bankers, economics with economists, and debt crises…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/suckers-think-that-you-cure-greed-with-money-addiction-with/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“One needs to go out and buy a lottery ticket in order to win. Does it mean that the work involved in the trip…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/one-needs-to-go-out-and-buy-a-lottery-ticket-in-order-to-win-does-it/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/individuals-should-think-about-the-worst-case-scenarios-and-plan-for/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“If you are looking for your misplaced wallet in your living room, in a trial and error mode, you exercise rationality by not looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/if-you-are-looking-for-your-misplaced-wallet-in-your-living-room-in-a/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/most-humans-manage-to-squander-their-free-time-as-free-time-makes/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [We learn the most from fools ... yet we pay them back with the worst ingratitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/we-learn-the-most-from-fools-yet-we-pay-them-back-with-the-worst/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [We are victims of the post-Enlightenment view that the world functions like a sophisticated machine, to be understood like a textbook engineering problem and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/we-are-victims-of-the-post-enlightenment-view-that-the-world/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“loss of bone density and degradation of the health of the bones also causes aging, diabetes, and, for males, loss of fertility and sexual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/loss-of-bone-density-and-degradation-of-the-health-of-the-bones-also/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“It takes a huge investment in introspection to learn that the thirty or more hours spent “studying” the news last month neither had any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/it-takes-a-huge-investment-in-introspection-to-learn-that-the-thirty/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) [Explore all 635 Nassim Nicholas Taleb quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) ## More Academia quotes > [“Word spread quickly: The visitor wished to address the scholars. 'What can he want?' they wondered, streaming into the Royal Theater. Attendance was voluntary,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/word-spread-quickly-the-visitor-wished-to-address-the-scholars-what/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [Society understands the architecture of academia and knows there are relevant qualifications in different fields, and the media accepts the idea of specialisations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-griffiths/society-understands-the-architecture-of-academia-and-knows-there-are/) [Jay Griffiths](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-griffiths/) > [One of the things that's great about New York is that it is not a one-industry town. It has education, academia, the service industry,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-jessica-parker/one-of-the-things-that-s-great-about-new-york-is-that-it-is-not-a-one/) [Sarah Jessica Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-jessica-parker/) > [ “See that the mind is honest, first; the rest may follow or not as God wills. \[That\] the fundamental treason to the mind ...… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/see-that-the-mind-is-honest-first-the-rest-may-follow-or-not-as-god/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [The approach of intellect or noesis will forever be an effete and limited sort of thing by contrast with the vigor and color of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-smith/the-approach-of-intellect-or-noesis-will-forever-be-an-effete-and/) [Kenny Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-smith/) > [One can hardly appreciate how academia has perverted its highest tasks and "ideals" without pondering long and hard the implications of Jacques Barzun's House…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-smith/one-can-hardly-appreciate-how-academia-has-perverted-its-highest/) [Kenny Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-smith/) > [Practically everybody (1) overweighs the stuff that can be numbered, because it yields to the statistical techniques they’re taught in academia, and (2) doesn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/practically-everybody-1-overweighs-the-stuff-that-can-be-numbered/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [The number one problem in academia today is not ignorant students but ignorant professors, who have substituted narrow "expertise" and "theoretical sophistication" (a preposterous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/the-number-one-problem-in-academia-today-is-not-ignorant-students-but/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-coontz/almost-all-scholarly-research-carries-practical-and-political/) [Stephanie Coontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-coontz/) > [There is this tremendous body of knowledge in the world of academia where extraordinary numbers of incredibly thoughtful people have taken the time to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/there-is-this-tremendous-body-of-knowledge-in-the-world-of-academia/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [What do you call a co-worker these days? Neither teammate nor confederate will do, and partner is too legalistic. The answer brought from academia…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-safire/what-do-you-call-a-co-worker-these-days-neither-teammate-nor/) [William Safire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-safire/) > [“Chivalry in academia is dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvain-reynard/chivalry-in-academia-is-dead/) [Sylvain Reynard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvain-reynard/) > [“The tunnel under the wall of intellectual snobbery is the only way back to common sense reality, but most won't find it because it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-e-navarro/the-tunnel-under-the-wall-of-intellectual-snobbery-is-the-only-way/) [D.E. Navarro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-e-navarro/) > [Even if 80 percent of the population of a country are Christian believers, they will have almost no cultural influence if the Christians do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/even-if-80-percent-of-the-population-of-a-country-are-christian/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [“(If you'd like to see it, I've been keeping a log of department meetings ranked according to level of trauma, with a 1 indicating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-schumacher-dear-committee-members/if-you-d-like-to-see-it-i-ve-been-keeping-a-log-of-department/) Julie Schumacher Dear Committee Members [Browse all 233 Academia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academia/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which nonnerds talked about love; alas, there was no drinking, and mercifully, nobody talked about love.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-after-a-fifth-century-b-c/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Academia" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-after-a-fifth-century-b-c/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e1/nassim-nicholas-taleb-352_academia_i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-af_1999654.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I attended a symposium, an event named after a fifth century (B.C.) Athenian drinking party in which…” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I attended a symposium, an event...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-after-a-fifth-century-b-c/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/i-attended-a-symposium-an-event-named-after-a-fifth-century-b-c/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```