Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quotes
Someone who says 'I am busy' is either declaring incompetence (and lack of control of his life) or trying to get rid of you.
Quotes to Explore
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What brought the British to the Gambia in the first place - which was bigger than it is now - was trade in ivory because the Gambia had a lot of elephants. They wiped out all the elephants and ended up selling Africans.
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I thought we had energy out there. I thought the guys were, they played good, they were excited. We were almost dynamite out there today. Just a flicker away from being dynamite.
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In the Muslim world, there are many people who have been vocal and we have been very vocal against extremists. But how to win this battle is an ongoing battle. And we must continue to wage the battle for peace.
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I ain't just collab-ing with anybody. Because I don't care about making friends. I got enough friends.
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For any actor - not just talking about myself - but if you've been fortunate enough to work for a long period of time, there's going to be different choices you're going to make.
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The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, said an eminent scholar, have God for their Author, the Salvation of mankind for their end, and Truth without any mixture of error for their matter.
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Be skeptical of concepts that divorce war from its political nature, particularly those that promise fast, cheap victory through technology.
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It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different.
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Empathy is a virtue, but it should not be a guiding judicial principle.
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Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.
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There's something unnatural about losing a sibling when they're young.
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As far as money goes, there's a saying in Denmark: 'Your last suit doesn't have any pockets.' You can't take it with you. You can make all the money you want, but who cares?
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I knew I wanted considerable education so that I wouldn't have to work as hard as my parents.
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Find something that you love to do, and find a place that you really like to do it in. I found something I loved to do. I'm a mechanical engineer by training, and I loved it. I still do. My son is a nuclear engineer at MIT, a junior, and I get the same vibe from him. Your work has to be compelling. You spend a lot of time doing it.
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The characteristic of scientific progress is our knowing that we did not know.
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My mom watches really obscure stuff on IFC. She's a real comedy fan. She knows everything that's going on.
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The funniest line in English is 'Get it?' When you say that, everyone chortles.
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The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.
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I asked each one of them to make out with me and their reactions varied from excitable to horrified.
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We do not need French post-structuralism, whose pedantic jargon, clumsy convolutions, and prissy abstractions have spread throughout academe and the arts and are now blighting the most promising minds of the next generation. This is a major crisis if there ever was one, and every sensible person must help bring it to an end.
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Being human is a lot more difficult than being on tour.
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So much of my life is spent just focused on driving race cars.
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Someone who says 'I am busy' is either declaring incompetence (and lack of control of his life) or trying to get rid of you.
