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.
Nassim Nicholas TalebThere are secrets to our world that only practice can reveal, and no opinion or analysis will ever capture in full.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRedundancy is ambiguous because it seems like a waste if nothing unusual happens. Except that something unusual happens-usually .
Nassim Nicholas TalebAn elephant is vastly more efficient, metabolically, than a mouse. It's the same for a megacity as opposed to a village. But an elephant can break a leg very easily, whereas you can toss a mouse out of a window and it'll be fine. Size makes you fragile.
Nassim Nicholas TalebIf I ask you to write down the last 4 digits of your social security number, and then take you out to lunch and ask you how many dentists there are in Manhattan, there's going to be a high correlation between those two numbers. What happens is that the number psychologically makes you feel confident.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb