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
Humorous 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
Humorous Unverifiable

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

2013 — Tweet
Humorous Unverifiable

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

2013 — Tweet
Humorous Unverifiable

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

2013 — Tweet
Humorous Unverifiable

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

2013 — Tweet
Humorous 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
Humorous Unverifiable

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

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

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

2023 — During an interview/lunch with The Spectator
Humorous Unverifiable

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

2026 — Tweet
Humorous Unverifiable

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

2010 — Interview with The New Yorker
Controversial Unverifiable

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

2012 — Interview with The Guardian
Controversial Unverifiable

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

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

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

2017 — Interview with The Atlantic
Controversial Unverifiable

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

2018 — Twitter post
Controversial Unverifiable