Black Swan

  

“Heroes are heroes because they are heroic in behavior, not because they won or lost.”

– Nassim Nicholas Taleb [born 1960]

black swan

"Life is hugely a matter of luck."
- John Cleese paraphrasing Nassim Taleb

"Comfort makes you weaker."
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb

aphorism

"I've only remembered what I've learned by myself."
- Nassim Taleb

middling management

Munich Opera House

"Being an executive does not require very developed frontal lobes, but rather a combination of charisma, a capacity to sustain boredom, and the ability to shallowly perform on harrying schedules. Add to these tasks the 'duty' of attending opera performances."

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, pg. 166

Image source here.

contempt for forecasting

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio [1571-1610], The Fortune-Teller, c.1598-1599.

"We have always been suckers for those who tell us about the future. In this picture the fortune-teller is stealing the victim's ring."

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, p.164

An earlier reference to Caravaggio here.

physically elegant swimmers

"When asking around about the comparative physical elegance of athletes, I was often told that runners look anorexic, cyclists bottom-heavy, and weight lifters insecure and a little primitive."

- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, pg.110

Image source here.

advice

"The next time someone pesters you with unneeded advice, gently remind him of the fate of a monk whom Ivan the Terrible put to death for delivering uninvited [and moralizing advice]. It works as a short-term cure."
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan, pg.27

the man with the memory who couldn't think

Jorge Luis Borges [1899-1986]

"Without effort, he had learned English, French, Portuguese, Latin. I suspect, nevertheless, that he was not very capable of thought. To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the overly replete world of Funes there were nothing but details, almost contiguous details."
- Jorge Luis Borges, Funes, the Memorious, 1942

An earlier reference to memory here.