Quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

It took us a while to discover that we do effectively think, but that we more readily narrate backward in order to give ourselves the illusion of understanding, and give a cover to our past actions.

A theory is like medicine (or government): often useless, sometimes necessary, always self-serving, and on occasion lethal. So it needs to be used with care, moderation and close adult supervision.

My biggest problem with modernity may lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal

In poor countries, officials receive explicit bribes; in D.C. they get the sophisticated, implicit, unspoken promise to work for large corporations

The rationalist imagines an imbecile-free society; the empiricist and imbecile-proof one, or even better, a rationalist-proof one.

Why do we keep focusing on the minutiae, not the possible significant large events, in spite of the obvious evidence of their huge influence?

English does not distinguish between arrogant-up (irreverence toward the temporarily powerful) and arrogant-down (directed at the small guy).

Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur

They will envy you for your success, your wealth, for your intelligence, for your looks, for your status - but rarely for your wisdom.

Every social association that is not face-to-face is injurious to your health

Love without sacrifice is like theft

Those who do not think that employment is systemic slavery are either blind or employed.

A mistake is not something to be determined after the fact, but in the light of the information until that point

What organized dating sites fail to understand is that the people are far more interesting in what they dont say about themselves.

The problem is that our ideas are sticky: once we produce a theory, we are not likely to change our minds....

Under opacity and in the newfound complexity of the world, people can hide risks and hurt others, with the law incapable of catching them. Iatrogenics has both delayed and invisible consequences. It is hard to see causal links, to fully understand what’s going on.Under such epistemic limitations, skin in the game is the only true mitigator of fragility.

Being self-owned is a state of mind.

The author cites researcher David Howards idea of post-traumatic growth. Howard contends that some individuals faced with a traumatic event actually develop new strength.

Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but, to the nonsucker, not exactly the same thing

It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers.