rules to live by

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

@nntaleb

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5h

The three most contagious diseases are measles, chickenpox, and status-conscious mediocrity.

Don’t trust how you feel first thing in the morning, or past 9pm.

Always Go To The Funeral

“Always go to the funeral” means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don’t feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don’t really have to and I definitely don’t want to. I’m talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to

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When stumped by a life choice, choose “enlargement” over happiness. I’m indebted to the Jungian therapist James Hollis for the insight that major personal decisions should be made not by asking, “Will this make me happy?”, but “Will this choice enlarge me or diminish me?” We’re terrible at predicting what will make us happy: the question swiftly ge

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