Nassim Taleb on Work Quotes

"Don't tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio."

"The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary."

"Intellectuals are good at writing, but not at doing. In the real world, there is no such thing as a 'non-practicing' expert."

"The problem with the modern world is that it is full of people who have no skin in the game, yet have a lot of influence."

"A 'job' is a modern form of slavery where you are paid enough to forget your dreams but not enough to live them."

"The difference between a worker and a slave is that the slave is owned; the worker is rented."

"You will never know if someone is an honorable person until they have the opportunity to profit from a dishonest act."

"The best way to learn is by doing, not by reading about doing. Experience is the only teacher that counts."

"Avoid any person who makes a living from being an 'expert' in something that has no feedback loop."

"The most important quality for a professional is not competence, but the ability to take risks and live with the consequences."

"If you don't take risks for your opinions, you are nothing."

"Work is only noble if it is done for its own sake, not for the sake of a paycheck."

"The Lindy Effect tells us that the longer a piece of work has lasted, the longer it is likely to last."

"Modern productivity is often just a way to hide the fact that we are doing meaningless work."

"Your reputation is what people say about you when you're not in the room. Your character is what you do when no one is looking."

"The tragedy of the modern world is that we have replaced wisdom with information and work with activity."

"If you are not doing something that makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, you are not growing."

"The goal of work should be to achieve a state where you are no longer dependent on the whims of others."

"The most successful people are those who have found a way to turn their hobbies into their work."

"The best way to predict the future is to create it, but the second best way is to survive it."

"A person who has skin in the game is more likely to be right than a person who is merely an 'expert'."

"The problem with experts is that they don't know what they don't know."

"Success is not about how much money you make, but about how much freedom you have."

"The only way to achieve true excellence is to be willing to fail and learn from your mistakes."

"If you are not willing to take risks, you should not be in a position of leadership."

"The most important thing in work is to have a clear sense of purpose and to stay true to your values."

"Work that does not involve risk is not work, it is just a series of tasks."

"The key to success is to be able to identify the signals in the noise and to act on them."

"You are only as good as your last piece of work, so make sure it is something you are proud of."

"Bureaucracy is a construction by which a person is conveniently separated from the consequences of his actions."

"The best kind of work is the kind that doesn't feel like work at all."

"To be a philosopher is to act like a philosopher, to be a trader is to act like a trader; to be an academic is to act like an academic."

"Don't ask anyone for their opinion, forecast, or recommendation. Just ask them what they have - or don't have - in their portfolio."