Hello everyone,
This week I read two books by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The first being “The Black Swan” (no, not the movie with Natalie Portman), and the second being “The Bed of Procrustes.” I have been greatly impressed by the way this man’s mind works. If anyone is interested in altering the way in which they view the world, they should read his material. The following quotes are some of my favorites from “The Bed of Procrustes,” which contains original philosophical and practical aphorisms by Taleb. I hope you find them as thought provoking as I did!
- “If you know , in the morning, what your day looks like with any precision, you are a little bit dead- the more precision, the more dead you are.”
- “By praising someone for his lack of defects you are also implying his lack of virtues.”
- “What fools call; “wasting time” is most often the best investment”
- “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.”
- “For so many, instead of looking for “cause of death” when they expire, we should be looking for “cause of life” when they are still around.
- “The tragedy is that much of what you think is random is in your control, and what’s worse, the opposite.
- “The fool views himself as more unique and others more generic; the wise views himself as more generic and others more unique.”
- “People often need to suspend their self-promotion, and have someone in their lives they do not need to impress. This explains dog ownership.
- “Pure generosity is when you help the ingrate. Every other form is self serving.”
- “Just as dyed hair makes older men less attractive, it is what you do to hide your weaknesses that makes them repugnant.”
- “A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see.”
- “Mediocre men tend to be outraged by small insults, but passive, subdued, and silent in front of very large ones.”
- “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”
- “You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits.”
-Nassim Taleb
What I love about Taleb’s quotes is that they take what each of us assumes to be true, and shows us that it is to those things that we are most vulnerable. Maybe, just maybe, much of what we are all running towards, we should actually be running from?! Have a great week, and I hope this makes you think as much as it made me think.
-Adam
