Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quotes
It is now the scientific consensus that our risk-avoidance mechanism is not mediated by the cognitive modules of our brain, but rather by the emotional ones. This may have made us fit for the Pleistocene era. Our risk machinery is designed to run away from tigers; it is not designed for the information-laden modern world.
Quotes to Explore
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The only thing that matters is what happens on the little hump out in the middle of the field.
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Some people say I chastise the Republican Party too much.
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In order to raise money from somebody, you have to understand who is this person, not to deceive them but to understand them. What would be their motives for contributing money? Why do these people contribute money to some places, but not to others? That's attunement - treating everybody well, but not treating everybody the same.
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Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.
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There was a time I desperately needed for the world to know that I was no category guy. My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, 'Hey, that guy can do anything. He's the Evel Knievel of music. He's jumping over 15 buses!'
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We all have our strengths and our failings.
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I always say that I don't like it when people follow trends too much, just because it is on the runway. I think what you wear really does need to reflect what your own personal style is.
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What I always say to people is dress from the feet up. If you don't normally wear colour, try some colour on your feet; it's the place, I think you can have fun and update your outfit.
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I don't like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It's just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.
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It's easy for me to get along with chess players. Even though we are all very different, we have chess in common.
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I think a lot of people want me to be like the characters in the books: they want that kind of congruence.
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Without troublesome work, no one can have any concrete, full idea of what pure mathematical research is like or of the profusion of insights that can be obtained from it.
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You cannot underestimate people's ability to spot a soulless, bureaucratic tactic a million miles away. It's a big reason why so many companies that have dipped a toe in social media waters have failed miserably.
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When we write about Auschwitz, we must know that Auschwitz, in a certain sense at least, suspended literature. One can only write a black novel about Auschwitz or - you should excuse the expression - a cheap serial, which begins in Auschwitz and is still not over.
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When I was writing my dissertation, I wrote about Freud and the process of sublimation, which is when you learn to stop breast-feeding, or stop going to the toilet whenever you want to. It's about learning to repress a desire for instant gratification.
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I never want to change so much that people can't recognize me.
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I realized in the early days I just didn't edit at all. But I think you become a little more cagey with your lyrics when you know more people are going to hear them and make assumptions about you as a person. Realizing that, you want to be a little more opaque.
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The Queen and Electric Light Orchestra harmonies are so distinct and fit in our songs so well sometimes, but we don't know how to do them properly.
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The war is dreadful. It is the business of the artist to follow it home to the heart of the individual fighters - not to talk in armies and nations and numbers - but to track it home.
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The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.
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The Monkees changed my life but ruined my acting career.
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An editor is someone dedicated to destroying the work of a creator.
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It is now the scientific consensus that our risk-avoidance mechanism is not mediated by the cognitive modules of our brain, but rather by the emotional ones. This may have made us fit for the Pleistocene era. Our risk machinery is designed to run away from tigers; it is not designed for the information-laden modern world.
