Wednesday: Quote Box

A Dozen . . .

. . . from Nassim Taleb:

"The most painful moments are not those we spend with uninteresting people; rather, they are those spent with uninteresting people trying hard to be interesting."

"The characteristic feature of the loser is to bemoan, in general terms, mankind's flaws, biases, contradictions, and irrationality--without exploiting them for fun and profit."

"Asking science to explain life and vital matters is equivalent to asking a grammarian to explain poetry."

"What fools call 'wasting time' is most often the best investment."

"The fastest way to become rich is to socialize with the poor; the fastest way to become poor is to socialize with the rich."

"You will be civilized on the day you can spend a long period doing nothing, learning nothing, and improving nothing, without feeling the slightest amount of guilt."

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

"My only measure of success is how much time you have to kill."

"Preoccupation with efficacy is the main obstacle to a poetic, noble, elegant, robust, and heroic life."

"It seems that it is the most unsuccessful people who give the most advice, particularly for writing and financial matters."

"Men destroy each other during war; themselves during peacetime."

"You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits."