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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| abb4abd | it is impossible for our brain to see anything in raw form without some interpretation. We may not even always be conscious of it. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| b45c836 | You view the world from a model. | world | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | |
| 6052502 | Imagine taking a test knowing the answer. While we know that history flows forward, it is difficult to realize that we envision it backward. Why is it so? We will discuss the point in Chapter 11 but here is a possible explanation: Our minds are not quite designed to understand how the world works, but, rather, to get out of trouble rapidly and have progeny. If they were made for us to understand things, then we would have a machine in it th.. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| e1ec521 | Amateurs in any discipline are the best, if you can connect with them. Unlike dilettantes, career professionals are to knowledge what prostitutes are to love. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| f24e455 | We do not need to be rational and scientific when it comes to the details of our daily life--only in those that can harm us and threaten our survival. Modern life seems to invite us to do the exact opposite; become extremely realistic and intellectual when it comes to such matters as religion and personal behavior, yet as irrational as possible when it comes to matters ruled by randomness (say, portfolio or real estate investments). I have .. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 97b9a06 | People overvalue their knowledge and underestimate the probability of their being wrong. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 145d4b9 | Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost. Patrocles does not strike us as a hero because of his accomplishments (he was rapidly killed) but because he preferred to die than see Achilles sulking into inaction. Clearly, the epic poets understood invisible histories. Also later thinkers and poets had more elaborate methods for dealing with randomness, as we will see with stoicism. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 46682cd | making some types of errors is the most rational thing to do, when the errors are of little cost, as they lead to discoveries. For instance, most medical "discoveries"are accidental to something else. An error-free world would have no penicillin, no chemotherapy...almost no drugs, and most probably no humans. This is why I have been against the state dictating to us what we "should"be doing: only evolution knows if the "wrong"thing is reall.. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 2830586 | But never engage in detailed overexplanations of why something is important: one debases a principle by endlessly justifying it. | importance principle | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | |
| f4552b9 | You need a story to displace a story. Metaphors and stories are far more potent (alas) than ideas; they are also easier to remember and more fun to read. If I have to go after what I call the narrative disciplines, my best tool is a narrative. Ideas come and go, stories stay. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 6c92681 | One single observation can invalidate a general statement derived from millennia of confirmatory sightings of millions of white swans. All you need is one single (and, I am told, quite ugly) black bird.* | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 13c6285 | what you learn from the intensity and the focus you had when under the influence of risk stays with you. You may lose the sharpness, but nobody can take away what you've learned. This is the principal reason I am now fighting the conventional educational system, made by dweebs for dweebs. Many kids would learn to love mathematics if they had some investment in it, and, more crucially, they would build an instinct to spot its misapplications.. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 74fb777 | Whenever you hear a snotty (and frustrated) European middlebrow presenting his stereotypes about Americans, he will often describe them as "uncultured," "unintellectual," and "poor in math" because, unlike his peers, Americans are not into equation drills and the constructions middlebrows call "high culture"--like knowledge of Goethe's inspirational (and central) trip to Italy, or familiarity with the Delft school of painting. Yet the perso.. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| ae76b35 | Religion isn't so much about telling man that there is one God as about preventing man from thinking that he is God. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 5d9de00 | There are secrets to our world that only practice can reveal, and no opinion or analysis will ever capture in full. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 3fbd962 | This confirmation problem pervades our modern life, since most conflicts have at their root the following mental bias: when Arabs and Israelis watch news reports they see different stories in the same succession of events. Likewise, Democrats and Republicans look at different parts of the same data and never converge to the same opinions. Once your mind is inhabited with a certain view of the world, you will tend to only consider instances .. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| d8e61e6 | It is much more immoral to claim virtue without fully living with its direct consequences. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 3605ae7 | Assume that you live in a town with two hospitals--one large, the other small. On a given day 60 percent of those born in one of the two hospitals are boys. Which hospital is it likely to be? | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 62b5165 | Recall the confirmation fallacy: governments are great at telling you what they did, but not what they did not do. In fact, they engage in what could be labeled as phony "philanthropy," the activity of helping people in a visible and sensational way without taking into account the unseen cemetery of invisible consequences. Bastiat inspired libertarians by attacking the usual arguments that showed the benefits of governments. But his ideas c.. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 2d31d33 | We humans are not just a superficial race (this may be curable to some extent); we are a very unfair one. | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | ||
| 854becb | When the second hour of Fiji's open house was almost at an end, a mother from Davy said, "How on earth do you get it to look like the cat is talking?" "Oh, did it look realistic?" Fiji had to struggle to keep a smile on her face. "It was so cute! It said, 'Get off my tail or I'll smother you in your sleep.'" "Just some batteries and a CD!" Fiji said. "And isn't that just what a cat should say?" -- | Charlaine Harris | ||
| e15dded | but I was sure he'd been talking about the home of someone white, because he'd said, "All the pictures on the walls, they all white as lilies and smiling like alligators." | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 02c1338 | Lots of kids in our neck of the woods call their grandfathers "Papaw" | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 2e5a7be | No one expected to be safe until this century, if you read a little history. Think of the thousands of years before- years with no law, when the sword ruled. No widespread system of justice; no immunizations against disease. The local lord free to kill the husbands, husbands free to rape and kill their wives. Childbirth often fatal. No antibiotics. It's only here and now that women are raised believing they'll be safe. And it serves us fals.. | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 8d6bf75 | Jesus Christ, shepherd of Judea. | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 6ea659a | A female feline named Katta Is getting fatta and fatta But she's pretty and purry And funny and furry So what does an ounce or two matta? | feline limmeric | Lilian Jackson Braun | |
| 9aa4073 | Why do you guys want to take all the mystery away? Isn't the mystery an exciting part of sex? | John Irving | ||
| 3372d65 | You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And you edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ARTHUR PLOTNIK | Judy Reeves | ||
| 143f035 | I think I'm going to cut down on my dating,' Annie said. 'I used to need a lot of attention. You know, to make up for that empty feeling inside. But boys aren't always the answer. | dating empty sweet-valley | Francine Pascal | |
| 1db9525 | The thought of gaining weight was all she needed to lose her appetite completely. Not that Jessica - a model-slim, perfect size-six - ever had to worry about her weight. | superficiality sweet-valley weight-gain | Francine Pascal | |
| 614ebf4 | Her wonderful, sweet, perfect, fairy-tale romance had turned out to have a twist. Prince Charming was a bloodsucker. | Lynsay Sands | ||
| 43c4326 | I wanted to get you flowers but none of the flower shops are open at this hour. I checked six all-night variety stores before finding any at all and this was the best of the-" "They're lovely," Rachel interrupted as she took the flowers. Limp and sad-looking as they were, they truly were lovely to Rachel. They represented hope, and she accepted them gladly, offering a shy smile as she lifted them to her face and sniffed the delicate bouquet.. | humor romance vampires | Lynsay Sands | |
| 525b5f4 | Here, don't forget your bells." Elvi grimaced as she took the anklet laced with bells. They'd been a gift from Mabel right after her turning. She'd claimed she thought they were charming, but Elvi knew the truth was they kept her from sneaking up on the other woman and startling her. Mabel had never admitted it," | Lynsay Sands | ||
| 67dcdf4 | He was a typical workaholic, driven to succeed and willing to put in the hours to do so. It didn't leave much time for a social life. (Greg) | this-was-me work-ethic | Lynsay Sands | |
| 7a712ec | My lady?" He peered briefly around to see that all seemed in order, and confusion immediately covered his face. "Take a dozen men and ride out in search of my husband," Emma commanded at once. The steward goggled at her. "But, my lady--" "Now, Sebert. Or all will be lost." Sebert nodded and started to withdraw, then paused and turned back, his gaze moving helplessly to the two men by the fireplace, before flying back to Emma herself. "But m.. | Lynsay Sands | ||
| 9ed2fe6 | Divine had meant to try to shut her mind off from his sooner than she had, but had got wrapped up in the passion she'd so carefully stirred to life in them both and left it just that one second or two too long. Instead of remaining conscious as she'd hoped, she'd ended up passing out with him. | Lynsay Sands | ||
| f508bdf | In sleep, Ross's face was unguarded, his expression soft. It made him appear much younger. He also snored loud enough to wake the dead. It made her think it would be a good thing did she fall asleep first every night for the rest of their marriage. Annabel | Lynsay Sands | ||
| 172dcb8 | The point is, you should have stayed right where you were and let us handle this. Now we're going to have to tie up your uncle and put him in one of the cells or something until we sort out everything and can prove your innocence. | Lynsay Sands | ||
| 3b179ae | You have a vampire living in your basement, and you're stunned by a talking cat? | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 9d8b8a9 | Manfred," I began, exasperated, "I just don't know what to do with you." "I have some very good ideas," he said. He waggled his eyebrows. He was making it funny, but he was serious. I never doubted that at my slightest response, Manfred would be booking us into the nearest hotel as fast as he could whip out his wallet." | manfred | Charlaine Harris | |
| f251fd7 | There is nothing more wonderful than feeling head-to-toe clean after you've been filthy, having a comfortable bed with clean sheets, being able to sleep in it in safety. | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 751dcf7 | In fact," Eric said, as he went to the front door, "I'd throw it away entirely. Maybe burn it." He left, closing the door behind him very quietly. I knew, as sure as I knew my name, that tomorrow he would send me another coat, in a big fancy box, with a big bow on it. It would be the right size, it would be a top brand, and it would be warm. It was cranberry red, with a removable liner, a detachable hood and tortoiseshell buttons." | eric-northman sookie-stackhouse | Charlaine Harris | |
| c653dc9 | It's not enough that we have to handle our own race's problems," Claude said. "Now we're sucked into the fucking vampire struggles, too." "No," I said, feeling I was walking uphill in this conversation. "You as a group weren't sucked into the vampire struggles. One of you was taken for a specific purpose. Different scenario." | Charlaine Harris | ||
| 73b0f06 | Maybe I felt like I'd come so close to forever-death that I'd better step back and take a look at my life. Maybe I didn't like a lot of what I'd done with it so far. | sookie-stackhouse | Charlaine Harris |