Quotes About Preparation

my ideas on redundancy in systems.

One vicious attribute is that the longer these animals can go without encountering the rare event, the more vulnerable they will be to it.

The longer we had to wait for it, the more severe it would be.

This dovetails into the "barbell" strategy of taking maximum exposure to the positive Black Swans while remaining paranoid about the negative ones.

It is often said that "is wise he who can see things coming." Perhaps the wise one is the one who knows that he cannot see things far away.

it makes them much less dependent on economic forecasts. This allowed them to shrug off later crises.2

as to what to do in the event of losses.

the longer these animals can go without encountering the rare event, the more vulnerable they will be to it.

Luck favors the prepared

We could plan while bearing in mind such limitations.

chance favors the prepared

do not try to predict precise Black Swans—it tends to make you more vulnerable to the ones you did not predict.

We cannot truly plan, because we do not understand the future—but this is not necessarily bad news. We could plan while bearing in mind such limitations. It just takes guts.

Now, what if you were going to Chicago, where you are told that the weather, while being 60 degrees, will nevertheless vary by about 30 degrees? You would have to pack winter and summer clothes.

And perhaps even for learning to walk in worn-out shoes, it is as well to have dry, warm feet when we are children.

So she was unprepared for the homely little house beside the pond, unprepared for the gentle eddies of dust, the silver cobwebs, the mouse who lived—and welcome to him!—in a table drawer.

Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly-arranged and well-provisioned breakfast-table.

I had neglected to provide myself with books, and as we crept along at the dull rate of four miles per hour, I soon felt the foul fiend Ennui coming upon me

The future is never more important than to a people on the verge of a cataclysm.

They were too focused on their own inner lives to appreciate the subtleties of character that might have alerted them to the true motives of those who did not share in their beliefs. Time and time again during their preparations to sail for America, the Pilgrims demonstrated an extraordinary talent for getting duped.

The time has come, everybody lie down so you won't get hurt when the sun bursts.

I gotta go to the bathroom, Emby mumbles. You should have thought of that before you left, says Hayden, putting on his best mother voice. How many times do we have to tell you? Always use the potty before climbing into a shipping crate.

When you live a life without questions, you're unprepared for the questions when they come.

We'll never be ready. So I guess that means we're as ready as we'll ever be.