Quotes About Adversity

You will get the most attention from those who hate you. No friend, no admirer, and no partner will flatter you with as much curiosity

As Ennius wrote, "The good is mostly in the absence of bad"; Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali.

in Arabic it is called Shhm—best translated as nonsmall. If you take risks and face your fate with dignity, there is nothing you can do that makes you small; if you don't take risks, there is nothing you can do that makes you grand, nothing.

what is made to fly will not do well trapped on the ground

Many, like the great Roman statesman Cato the Censor, looked at comfort, almost any form of comfort, as a road to waste.1 He did not like it when we had it too easy, as he worried about the weakening of the will. And the softening he feared was not just at the personal level: an entire society can fall ill.

Seneca's version of that Stoicism is antifragility from fate. No downside from Lady Fortuna, plenty of upside.

If you engage in a Black Swan–dependent activity, it is better to be part of a group.

If you take risks and face your fate with dignity, there is nothing you can do that makes you small; if you don't take risks, there is nothing you can do that makes you grand, nothing.

The fact that you survived is a condition that may weaken your interpretation of the properties of the survival, including the shallow notion of "cause.

You attribute your successes to skills, but your failures to randomness. This explains why these scientists attributed their failures to the "ten sigma" rare event, indicative of the thought that they were right but that luck played against them. Why? It is a human heuristic that makes us actually believe so in order not to kill our self-esteem and keep us going against adversity.

And, what's worse, we didn't get where we are today thanks to policy makers—but thanks to the appetite for risks and errors of a certain class of people we need to encourage, protect, and respect.

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

since mistakes lower the odds of future mistakes.

A energia em excesso liberada em uma reação exagerada aos contratempos é o que promove a inovação! Essa

The fact that he did not experience John's success was the reason he did not suffer his downfall.

we will look at it with respect to resistance to randomness.

that to understand successes and analyze what caused them, we need to study the traits present in failures.

Clearly risk taking is necessary for large success—but it is also necessary for failure.

I have no problem with risk taking, just please, please, do not call yourself conservative and act superior to other businesses who are not as vulnerable to Black Swans.

For those readers who wonder about the difference between Buddhism and Stoicism, I have a simple answer. A Stoic is a Buddhist with attitude, one who says "f*** you" to fate.

shows why the convex likes volatility. If you earn more than you lose from fluctuations, you want a lot of fluctuations.

Note that in traditional societies even those who fail—but have taken risks—have a higher status than those who are not exposed.

by persons squeezed by life.

triggers some feeling of bitterness.