Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur

If you have more than one reason to do something (choose a doctor or veterinarian, hire a gardener or an employee, marry a person, go on a trip), just don’t do it. It does not mean that one reason is better than two, just that by invoking more than one reason you are trying to convince yourself to do something. Obvious decisions (robust to error) require no more than a single reason.

You will get the most attention from those who hate you. No friend, no admirer and no partner will flatter you with as much curiosity.

In economic life and history more generally, just about everything of consequence comes from black swans; ordinary events have paltry effects in the long term.

...maximize the serendipity around you.

Never, never, never think - that's one lesson you should have in life. Never think that lack of variability is stability.

Most so-called writers keep writing and writing with the hope, some day, to find something to say.