Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quotes

To bankrupt a fool, give him information.

Never allow unsollicited advice from friends. Every time someone gave me a "friendly advice" on 1) writing style, 2) trading strategy, 3) How I should not be weightlifting, 4) Why I shd be nice to Monsanto, etc., I'm glad I did opposite. Be stubborn.

The general principle of antifragility: it is much better to do things you cannot explain than explain things you cannot do.

You need a story to displace a story.

It takes a huge investment in introspection to learn that the thirty or more hours spent studying the news last month neither had any predictive ability during your activities of that month nor did it impact your current knowledge of the world.

Do not read books on time management/MBAbullshit 2) Do nothing that bores you & stop before something gets dull.

"This is hard to accept in the age of the Internet. It has been very hard for me to explain that the more data you get, the less you know whats going on, and the more iatrogenics you will cause. People are still under the illusion that science means more data." - Taleb

We should reward people, not ridicule them, for thinking the impossible.

Never never compromise. Say it the way it is.

Remember that you are a Black Swan.

Anything that provides you with very, very stable income, very stable conditions, maybe generally stable, that often, it masks real risks, risks of blow-ups.

"But the worst touristification is the life we moderns have to lead in captivity, during our leisure hours: Friday night opera, scheduled parties, scheduled laughs. Again, golden jail. This "goal-driven" attitude hurts deeply inside my existential self." - Taleb

I hated school because I liked to daydream and the system tried to stop me from that.

Comfort makes you weaker. We need some variability, some stressors. Not too much, but just enough.

Virtue is what you do when nobody is looking. The rest is marketing.