Quotes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Extremistan, you will have trouble figuring out the average from any sample since it can depend so much on one single observation. The idea is not more difficult than that. In Extremistan, one unit can easily affect the total in a disproportionate way. In this world, you should always be suspicious of the knowledge you derive from data. This is a very simple test of uncertainty that allows you to distinguish between the two kinds of randomness. Capish?

They found it difficult to accept that their grasp was a little short. But

Crucially, if antifragility is the property of all those natural (and complex) systems that have survived, depriving these systems of volatility, randomness, and stressors will harm them.

My son, I am very disappointed in you," he said. "I never hear anything wrong said about you. You have proven yourself incapable of generating envy.

shows no evidence that raising the general level of education raises income at the level of a country.

George Soros, a complex man who thrived on rare events

To value a person, consider the difference between how impressive he or she was at the first encounter and the most recent one.

Yet she never had the heart to reread the painful ending.

One needs to go out and buy a lottery ticket in order to win. Does it mean that the work involved in the trip to the store caused the winning?

Knowing that you cannot predict does not mean that you cannot benefit from unpredictability.

an even smaller handful managed to foresee the full extent of the damage.

that wealth leads to the rise of education

which should not discourage anyone from trying.

In the United States, we have a buildup of student loans that automatically transfer to these rent extractors. In a way it is no different from racketeering: one needs a decent university "name" to get ahead in life; but we know that collectively society doesn't appear to advance with organized education.

traders and salespeople were only manageable when they were unprofitable, in which case they weren't wanted.

this attribute is universal to all our activities: there is something in us designed to protect our self-esteem.

you need a story to replace a story

which condition preceded the other.

You will be civilized on the day you can spend a long period doing nothing, learning nothing, and improving nothing, without feeling the slightest amount of guilt.

only suckers wait for answers; questions are not made for answers):

feel that you are due an upgrade

those who have more than their skin in the game. They have their soul in the game.

As we travel more on this planet, epidemics will be more acute—we will have a germ population dominated by a few numbers, and the successful killer will spread vastly more effectively.

In other words, I aim at profiting from the rare event, with my asymmetric bets.