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
If you hear a "prominent" economist using the word 'equilibrium,' or 'normal distribution,' do not argue with him; just ignore him, or try to put a rat down his shirt.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the reliance on certain economic terms and theories, suggesting they often lack practical relevance.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb uses humor to express his skepticism towards mainstream economic concepts like 'equilibrium' and 'normal distribution.' He implies that such terms can obscure reality and lead to misguided beliefs. By suggesting a drastic response to an economist who uses these terms, he highlights the absurdity of taking such economic jargon at face value, advocating instead for a more critical view of economic theories.
Themes
EconomicsEquilibriumNormal DistributionSkepticismTheory
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about economic policies, one might use this quote to illustrate the shortcomings of relying too heavily on theoretical models.
More from Nassim Nicholas Taleb
All quotes →Fragility 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 good maxim allows you to have the last word without even starting a conversation.
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
Similar quotes
Every serious-minded person knows that a large part of the effort required in moral discipline consists in the courage needed to acknowledge the unpleasant consequences of one's past and present acts.
John DeweyRead
Perhaps a man may commit suicide in self-defense.
Khalil GibranRead
I kept having dreams all night. I thought they were touching me with their fingers. But dreams don't have fingers, they have fists, so it must have been scorpions.
Roberto BolanoRead
This whole thing about reality television to me is really indicative of America saying we're not satisfied just watching television, we want to star in our own TV shows. We want you to discover us and put us in your own TV show, and we want television to be about us, finally.
Steven SpielbergRead
Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s (God’s) ground…He [God] made the pleasure: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy [God] has produced, at at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He [God] has forbidden.
C. S. LewisRead
Satisfy your demand for reason but always remember that charity is beyond reason, and God can be known through charity.
Flannery O'ConnorRead