Inspirational Quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb — Words of Wisdom for Daily Success

“Optimism, it is said, is predictive of success. It can also be predictive of failure. Optimistic people take more risks, as they are overconfident about the odds. Those who win show up among the rich and famous. Others fail and disappear from the analysis.”

“Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that’s what you are seeking.”

“Love without sacrifice is like theft”

“Reality is far more vicious than Russian roulette. First, it delivers the fatal bullet rather infrequently, like a revolver that would have hundreds, even thousands of chambers instead of six. After a few dozen tries, one forgets about the existence of a bullet, under a numbing false sense of security. Second, unlike a well-defined precise game like Russian roulette, where the risks are visible to anyone capable of multiplying and dividing by six, one does not observe the barrel of reality. One is capable of unwittingly playing Russian roulette - and calling it by some alternative “low risk” game.”

“A prophet is not someone with special visions, just someone blind to most of what others see”

“The problem of knowledge is that there are many more books on birds written by ornithologists than books on birds written by birds and books on ornithologists written by birds”

“They think that intelligence is about noticing things are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns)”

“They will envy you for your success, your wealth, for your intelligence, for your looks, for your status - but rarely for your wisdom.”

“If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry.”

“Things always become obvious after the fact”

“Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.”