“This is the central illusion in life: that randomness is a risk, that it is a bad thing …”

—  Nassim Nicholas Taleb , book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), p. 84

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "This is the central illusion in life: that randomness is a risk, that it is a bad thing …" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo
Nassim Nicholas Taleb 196
Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former t… 1960

Related quotes

Richelle Mead photo

“Most good things come with the risk of something bad.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Blues

Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo

“Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960) Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader and risk analyst

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder

George Bernard Shaw photo

“Love is a simple thing and a deep thing: it is an act of life and not an illusion. Art is an illusion.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Acis, in Pt. V
1920s, Back to Methuselah (1921)

“Economics should be under no illusion that central banking will ever become a science.”

Jürg Niehans (1919–2007) Swiss economist

Source: The theory of money, 1978, p. 296

“Perhaps our thinking exemplifies a selective system. First lots of random scattered ideas compete for survival. Then comes the selection for what works best —one idea dominates, and this is followed by its amplification. Perhaps the moral […] is that you never learn anything unless you are willing to take a risk and tolerate a little randomness in your life.”

Heinz R. Pagels (1939–1988) American physicist

Source: The Dreams of Reason, 1988, ISBN 0-553-34710-1

Robert Kuttner photo

“The economic illusion is the belief that social justice is bad for economic growth.”

Robert Kuttner (1943) American journalist

Introduction, p. 1 (First text line.)
The Economic Illusion (1984)

David Baddiel photo

“That's the thing about your destiny: how are you supposed to know it when it arrives? How are you supposed to recognise it from the random life?”

David Baddiel (1964) British comedian, novelist and television presenter

From the novel "Whatever Love Means"

Richelle Mead photo

“For every bad thing in life, there are more good things to tip the balance.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus on Top

Pat Conroy photo

“Some things don’t mix. Some things don’t mix at all, but sometimes in life you have to take the risk.”

Pat Conroy The Lords of Discipline

Source: The Lords of Discipline

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo

“…the central doctrine of Conservatism, that it is better to endure almost any political evil than to risk a breach of the historic continuity of government.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Quarterly Review, 135, 1873, p. 544
1870s

Related topics