Quotes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Almost anything around us of significance is hard to grasp linguistically—and in fact the more powerful, the more incomplete our linguistic grasp.

These two mistakes are quite telling because, in both cases, the benefits appeared to be obvious and immediate, though small, and the harm remained delayed for years

This is called a stop loss, a predetermined exit point, a protection from the black swan.

If your anger decreases with time, you did injustice; if it increases, you suffered injustice.

And I will keep mentioning that I have no other definition of success than leading an honorable life.

The more remote the event, the less we can get empirical data (assuming generously that the future will resemble the past) and the more we need to rely on theory.

the burden of proof lies on someone disturbing a complex system, not on the person protecting the status quo.

But since abundance would bring the opposite effect

It is exactly like saying that nuclear bombs are safer because they explode less often.

Why is it that science comes and goes and technologies remain stable?

Remember from the logic of the barbell that it is necessary to first remove fragilities.

the benefits are small, and visible—and the costs very large, delayed, and hidden.

without reading him, using his ideas in a self-serving selective manner—ideas that he most certainly did not endorse in the form they are presented.

The latest I've seen is about how economists should shoot for the role of lowly philosophers rather than that of high priests. Yet, in one ear and out the other.

to make money you must first survive

I later got some plausible explanation from evolutionary psychology, which claims that such physical manifestations of one's performance in life, just like an animal's dominant condition, can be used for signaling: It makes the winners seem easily visible, which is efficient in mate selection.

Breaking a fast feels like the exact opposite of a hangover.*

Today, a few take almost everything; the rest, next to nothing.

Una heurística sobre si tienes el control de tu vida: ¿puedes echarte siestas?

Relies on scientific papers, goes from books to practice

With few exceptions, those who dress outrageously are robust or even antifragile in reputation; those clean-shaven types who dress in suits and ties are fragile to information about them.

absence of fluctuations in the market causes hidden risks to accumulate with impunity. The longer one goes without a market trauma, the worse the damage when commotion occurs.

But I also buy the opposite argument that regulating street signs does not seem to reduce risks; drivers become more placid. Experiments show that alertness is weakened when one relinquishes control to the system (again, lack of overcompensation). Motorists need the stressors and tension coming from the feeling of danger to feed their attention and risk controls, rather than some external regulator—fewer pedestrians die jaywalking than using regulated crossings.

chess grandmasters usually win by not losing; people become rich by not going bust (particularly when others do);