“Black Swan has three attributes: unpredictability, consequences, retrospective explainability.”

“Remember that you are a Black Swan.”

“. . . the world in which we live has an increasing number of feedback loops, causing events to be the cause of more events (say, people buy a book because other people bought it), thus generating snowballs and arbitrary and unpredictable planet-wide winner-take-all effects.”

“If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry.”

“My best definition of a nerd: someone who asks you to explain an aphorism”

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

“The observation of the numerous misfortunes that attend all conditions forbids us to grow insolent upon our present enjoyments, or to admire a man's happiness that may yet, in course of time, suffer change. For the uncertain future has yet to come, with all variety of future; and to him only to whom the divinity has [guaranteed] continued happiness until the end we may call happy.”