A good maxim allows you to have the last word without even starting a conversation. Nassim Nicholas Taleb More Quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb More Quotes From Nassim Nicholas Taleb The grandchildren should not bear the debts of the grandparents. Nassim Nicholas Taleb debtgrandparentgrandchildren I want to live happily in a world I don’t understand. Nassim Nicholas Taleb wantworld Much of modern life is preventable chronic stress injury. Nassim Nicholas Taleb modern-lifestresslife-is Maximum of an average is necessarily less volatile than the average maximum Nassim Nicholas Taleb maximumaverage When I trade, I don't have an agency problem; I have my neck on the line. When a bank or banker trades, it's not his neck on the line. Nassim Nicholas Taleb agencylinesbankers He who has never sinned is less reliable than he who has only sinned once. And someone who has made plenty of errors-though never the same error more than once-is more reliable than someone who has never made any. Nassim Nicholas Taleb plentyerrorsmade It's harder to say 'no' when you really mean it. Nassim Nicholas Taleb really-meanhardermean The opposite of manliness isn't cowardice; it's technology. Nassim Nicholas Taleb cowardicetechnologyopposites People work out, they stress their body, and their body gets stronger from stress. Nassim Nicholas Taleb work-outstresspeople We know from chaos theory that even if you had a perfect model of the world, you'd need infinite precision in order to predict future events. With sociopolitical or economic phenomena, we don't have anything like that. Nassim Nicholas Taleb eventsperfectorder The classical man's worst fear was inglorious death; the modern man's worst fear is just death Nassim Nicholas Taleb modernfearmen The characteristic feature of the loser is to bemoan, in general terms, mankind's flaws, biases, contradictions, and irrationality - without exploiting them for fun and profit Nassim Nicholas Taleb flawsloserfun The worst side effect of wealth is the social associations it forces on its victims, as people with big houses end up socializing with other people with big houses. Nassim Nicholas Taleb associationhousepeople If something is going on, I hear about it. I like to talk to people, I socialise. Television is a waste of time. Human contact is what matters. Nassim Nicholas Taleb serendipitywhat-matterspeople Information is bad for knowledge. Nassim Nicholas Taleb informationignoranceknowledge What is nonmeasurable and nonpredictable will remain nonmeasurable and nonpredictable ... no matter how much hate mail I get. Nassim Nicholas Taleb mailhatematter 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 surfacecoursesrisk When we want to do something while unconsciously certain to fail, we seek advice so we can blame someone else for the failure. Nassim Nicholas Taleb blame-someonewantadvice Never trust a journalist unless she's your mother. Nassim Nicholas Taleb journalistnever-trustmother Few understand that procrastination is our natural defense, letting things take care of themselves and exercise their antifragility. Nassim Nicholas Taleb defenseprocrastinationexercise
