“Never ask anyone for their opinion, forecast, or recommendation. Just ask them what they have—or don’t have—in their portfolio.”

—Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

‘Someone who says “I am busy” is either declaring incompetence (and lack of control of his life) or trying to get rid of you.’

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

“If you have earned your self-respect, respect by others is a luxury; if you haven’t, respect by others is a necessity.”
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

“The sucker overestimates the value of secret information when the important stuff is that huge elephant in front if us all.”

—Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

“We know from chaos theory that even if you had a perfect model of the world, you’d need infinite precision in order to predict future events. With sociopolitical or economic phenomena, we don’t have anything like that.”
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

“Charm is the ability to insult people without offending them; nerdiness the reverse.”
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

“Complaints don’t deliver complaints, they mostly reveal your weakness.”

—Nassim Nicholas Taleb.