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
To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.
Interpretation
Philosophy requires deep contemplation and careful thought, which can be achieved through a slow and deliberate approach.
This quote by Nassim Nicholas Taleb highlights the importance of taking one's time to reflect and understand philosophical concepts. By suggesting that one should 'walk very slowly,' Taleb implies that genuine wisdom and insight come from a methodical, introspective journey rather than a hurried pursuit. The act of slowing down allows for greater awareness and a deeper engagement with complex ideas.
In practice
During a lecture on the importance of mindfulness, one might quote Taleb to emphasize a slower approach to understanding complex ideas.
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.
Birds rising in flight is a sign that the enemy is lying in ambush; when the wild animals are startled and flee he is trying to take you unaware.
Ah," said Mr Pin. "Right. I remember. You are concerned citizens." He knew about concerned citizens. Wherever they were, they all spoke the same private language, where 'traditional values' meant 'hang someone'.
If princes and kings could follow it (Tao), all things would by themselves abide, Heaven and Earth would unite and sweet dew would fall. People would by themselves find harmony, without being commanded.
Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying.
By deafening ourselves to the emotional consequences of violence we have become confused by its relationship to sex. We have come to believe that violence equals aggression, and we have come to base our model of sexuality on our model of violence... converting an act of aggression into an act of consensual sexuality.
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.
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