Portrait of Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Black Swan theory

Contemporary influential 179 sayings

Sayings by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I want to write books that only those who read them claim they did.

2013 — Tweet
General Unverifiable

When I die, I want the highest number of firemen, risk takers, & other real people and the smallest number of academics to attend my funeral.

2013 — Tweet
General Unverifiable

Looks like the only people who do not think that economists are bullshitters are economists.

2013 — Tweet
General Unverifiable

Virtue is when the income you wish to show the tax agency exceeds what you wish to show your neighbor.

2013 — Tweet
Work & Money Unverifiable

The absurdity of money is that it is only good for you if you don't spend it.

2013 — Tweet
Work & Money Unverifiable

Finance professors have the highest salaries in academia, we overpay for them to stay on campus.

2013 — Tweet
General Unverifiable

The way people reveal unconsciously that an action would be in their best interest is by telling you that it is 'in *your* best interest'.

2013 — Tweet
General Unverifiable

Unlike dilettantes, career professionals are to knowledge what prostitutes are to love.

circa 2012 — Aphorism, frequently used in his writings and talks
Relationships Unverifiable

So long as you see the picture of Larry Summers going to Davos, you have to stay short U.S. Treasuries for another year. It means they [the Obama administration] don't know what's going on.

2009 — Comment on financial policy
General Unverifiable

They wouldn't listen to me. So I decided, to hell with them, I'll take their money instead.

2009 — Comment on his trading strategy during the 2008 financial crisis
Work & Money Unverifiable

I want you to write down that I started wearing them [Steve Jobs turtlenecks] before he did. I want that to be known.

2012 — Interview with The Guardian
Work & Money Unverifiable

The last guy I had was a fucking dick. He wanted to be artsy fartsy. You're OK.

2012 — To a photographer during an interview with The Guardian
General Unverifiable

dessert... in his opinion they're 'crap' and he will only eat Lebanese pastries.

2023 — During an interview/lunch with The Spectator
Food & Drink Unverifiable

Every single person still supporting Trump needs a cognitive test --particularly if the person is on the traditional right.

2026 — Tweet
General Unverifiable

The world is more random than we think, and we are more fragile than we think.

2010 — Interview with The New Yorker
General Unverifiable

The most dangerous people in the world are the ones who think they know what they’re doing.

2012 — Interview with The Guardian
General Unverifiable

The only way to be truly antifragile is to have skin in the game.

2018 — From his book 'Skin in the Game'
General Unverifiable

The problem with modernity is that we are building a world we don’t understand.

2017 — Interview with The Atlantic
General Unverifiable

The most overrated virtue is intelligence. The most underrated virtue is courage.

2018 — Twitter post
General Unverifiable
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