Nassim Taleb Quotes Part II

I continue with the second part of my Nassim Taleb favorite quotes and I hope to excite and inspire you:

“To bankrupt a fool, give him information.”

“They think that intelligence is about noticing things are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns)” 

“If you hear a "prominent" economist using the word 'equilibrium,' or 'normal distribution,' do not argue with him; just ignore him, or try to put a rat down his shirt.” 

“Difficulty is what wakes up the genius” 

“The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist” 

“Never ask anyone for their opinion, forecast, or recommendation. Just ask them what they have—or don’t have—in their portfolio.”

“We favor the visible, the embedded, the personal, the narrated, and the tangible; we scorn the abstract.” 

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

“More data—such as paying attention to the eye colors of the people around when crossing the street—can make you miss the big truck.” 

Nassim Taleb Quotes Part I

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a Labanese-American scholar, essayist, statistician, former trader and risk analyst. He has been a practitioner of mathematical finance, s hedge fund manager and a derivatives. Taleb’s work is focused on problems of the probability, randomness and uncertainty. His most popolar is „The Black Swan”, which I strongly recommend you read. It as described in a review by The Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II.

I'm a great fan and I'd like to share my favorite quotes with you:

“Things always become obvious after the fact” 

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” 

“A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.”

“When you develop your opinions on the basis of weak evidence, you will have difficulty interpreting subsequent information that contradicts these opinions, even if this new information is obviously more accurate.” 

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

“People focus on role models; it is more effective to find antimodels - people you don't want to resemble when you grow up”

“The irony of the process of thought control: the more energy you put into trying to control your ideas and what you think about, the more your ideas end up controlling you.”