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
A good maxim allows you to have the last word without even starting a conversation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A wise saying can convey deep understanding and authority without needing to engage in lengthy discussions.
This quote suggests that a powerful, well-crafted statement can encapsulate a profound truth or insight, enabling one to assert their point of view effectively. It highlights the strength of wise words in communicating complex ideas simply, allowing one to maintain authority without further debate.
Themes
WisdomMaximCommunicationAuthorityTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about philosophy, someone can quote this to emphasize the power of a strong statement.
More from Nassim Nicholas Taleb
All quotes βFragility is the quality of things that are vulnerable to volatility.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
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.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
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.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
A Stoic is someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into transformation, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
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)
Nassim Nicholas TalebRead
Similar quotes
Meditation speaks. It speaks in silence. It reveals. It reveals to the aspirant that matter and spirit are one, quantity and quality are one, the immanent and the transcendent are one. It reveals that life can never be the mere existence of seventy or eighty years between birth and death, but is, rather, Eternity itself.
Sri ChinmoyRead
Meditation means learning how to get out of this current, sit by its bank and listen to it, learn from it, and then use its energies to guide us.
Jon Kabat-ZinnRead
In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important as remembering.
William JamesRead
But I learned that there's a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there's not much else that can really get to ya.
Christian BaleRead
'It only put me in Gryffindor,' said Harry in a defeated voice, 'because I asked not to go in Slytherin...' 'Exactly' said Dumbledore, beaming once more. 'Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'
J. K. RowlingRead
You've got to love what's lovable, and hate what's hateable. It takes brains to see the difference.
Robert FrostRead