Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• There is a saying that bad traders divorce their spouse sooner than abandon their positions. Loyalty to ideas is not a good thing for traders, scientists - or anyone.

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• A prophet is not someone who first had an idea. He is the one to first believe in it and take it to its conclusion.

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• Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market alow you to put there.

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• The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist

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• Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that's what you are seeking.

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• You cannot do anything with knowledge unless you know where it stops, and the costs of using it.

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• Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.

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• A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see

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• Reality is far more vicious than Russian roulette. First, it delivers the fatal bullet rather infrequently, like a revolver that would have hundreds, even thousands of chambers instead of six. After a few dozen tries, one forgets about the existence of a bullet, under a numbing false sense of security. Second, 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. One is capable of unwittingly playing Russian roulette - and calling it by some alternative —low risk— game.

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• Things always become obvious after the fact

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• Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that's what you are seeking.

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• Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.

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• There is a saying that bad traders divorce their spouse sooner than abandon their positions. Loyalty to ideas is not a good thing for traders, scientists - or anyone.

  Read quote

• A prophet is not someone who first had an idea. He is the one to first believe in it and take it to its conclusion.

  Read quote

• You cannot do anything with knowledge unless you know where it stops, and the costs of using it.

  Read quote

• A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see

  Read quote

• Things always become obvious after the fact

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• Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market alow you to put there.

  Read quote

• The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist

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• Reality is far more vicious than Russian roulette. First, it delivers the fatal bullet rather infrequently, like a revolver that would have hundreds, even thousands of chambers instead of six. After a few dozen tries, one forgets about the existence of a bullet, under a numbing false sense of security. Second, 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. One is capable of unwittingly playing Russian roulette - and calling it by some alternative —low risk— game.

  Read quote