-
I have never had personal debt and never will.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Most people are sceptical about the wrong things and gullible about the wrong things.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
-
Debt is a mistake between lender and borrower, and both should suffer.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
I don't know anyone on Wall Street who goes to work every day thinking of anything but how to increase their bonus.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to 'restore confidence.' Cascading rumours are a product of complex systems. Governments cannot stop the rumours. Simply, we need to be in a position to shrug off rumours, be robust in the face of them.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
If you are in banking and lending, surprise outcomes are likely to be negative for you.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Writing is sacred, other activities are profane, and I don't want them to corrupt my writing.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Trading forces someone to think hard; those who merely work hard generally lose their focus and intellectual energy. In addition, they end up drowning in randomness; work ethics draw people to focus on noise rather than the signal.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
-
The next time you experience a blackout, take some solace by looking at the sky. You will not recognize it.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Just as dyed hair makes older men less attractive, it is what you do to hide your weaknesses that makes them repugnant.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
In the United States, large corporations control some members of Congress. All this does is delay the corporation's funeral at our expense.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
I don't go to the doctor except when I'm very ill, and when I go to India, I drink a drop of local water.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
There are two types of people: those who try to win and those who try to win arguments. They are never the same.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
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.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
-
A good maxim allows you to have the last word without even starting a conversation.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
We should reward people, not ridicule them, for thinking the impossible.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Alan Greenspan is unskilled; you don't take the unskilled seriously.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Globalization has created this interlocking fragility. At no time in the history of the universe has the cancellation of a Christmas order in New York meant layoffs in China.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
When conflicted between two choices, take neither.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
Unlike a well-defined, precise game like Russian roulette, where the risks are visible to anyone capable of multiplying and dividing by six, one does not observe the barrel of reality.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
-
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 -
Most so-called writers keep writing and writing with the hope, some day, to find something to say.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
For many people, commuting is the worst part of the day, and policies that can make commuting shorter and more convenient would be a straightforward way to reduce minor but widespread suffering.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb -
To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb