Nobody reads the disclosures that roll down your computer screen. You click 'I agree' but you don't know what you're agreeing to.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
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.
Interpretation
Unpredictable and rare events have significant impacts, while everyday occurrences have little long-term effect.
This quote by Nassim Nicholas Taleb emphasizes the importance of rare and unpredictable events, termed 'black swans', in shaping economic outcomes and historical developments. Taleb argues that while common events may seem significant in the moment, it is the extraordinary occurrences that often lead to substantial consequences, altering the course of events in profound ways.
In practice
In a financial conference to highlight the impact of unexpected market crashes.
Nobody reads the disclosures that roll down your computer screen. You click 'I agree' but you don't know what you're agreeing to.
Fragility is the quality of things that are vulnerable to volatility.
Those who were unlucky in life in spite of their skills would eventually rise. The lucky fool might have benefited from some luck in life; over the longer run he would slowly converge to the state of a less-lucky idiot. Each one would revert to his long-term properties.
Individuals should think about the worst-case scenarios and plan for them. The world will be crazier than you think it will be. Put money away, and then you can live with much more freedom.
A good maxim allows you to have the last word without even starting a conversation.
A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.
The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
I believe that at this point in history, the greatest danger to our freedom and way of life comes from the reasonable fear of omniscient State powers kept in check by nothing more than policy documents.
The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.
We're all made of stories. When they finally put us underground, the stories are what will go on. Not forever, perhaps, but for a time. It's a kind of immortality, I suppose, bounded by limits, it's true, but then so's everything.
Man, no doubt, owes many other moral duties to his fellow men; such as to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, protect the defenseless, assist the weak, and enlighten the ignorant. But these are simply moral duties, of which each man must be his own judge, in each particular case, as to whether, and how, and how far, he can, or will perform them.
The celebrity syndrome. When people forget who they are and start to believe what other people say about them.
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