Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quotes

I don't consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.

The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.

I read books like mad, but I am careful to to let anything I read influence me.

An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.

I think you can decide how much of yourself you're willing to make public.

I think it's totally up to the individual if they'd like a private life or if they'd like to be in the public eye - it's a choice you can make.

I don't feel any need to play the role of the clown. In my private life I take a break from humor.

I have written a memoir here and there, and that takes its own form of selfishness and courage. However, generally speaking, I have no interest in writing about my own life or intruding in the privacy of those around me.

I'm no romantic, surfing, California boy. I like reading, writing, philosophizing. Scheming. I've been doing some exploration of the inner space.

I won a Marshall scholarship to read philosophy at Oxford, and what I most wanted to do was strengthen public intellectual culture - I'd write books and essays to help us figure out who we wanted to be.

One of the difficult things, especially about blogging, is that you put all of your personal out there, into the political. And what's been difficult, for me at least, is trying to keep some of the personal for myself.

I like the concept of teenagers and philosophy.

I thought, I'm out in my life, that doesn't involve my public life.

The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

Philosophers, as things now stand, are all too fond of offering criticism from on high instead of studying and understanding things from within.

I've been careful to keep my life separate because it's important to me to have privacy and for my life not to be a marketing device for a movie or a TV show. I'm worth more than that.

I've always felt some kind of connection to people who are kind of over-smart. People who over-think things to the point of some sort of paralysis, and I think that certainly can be me on any given day.

Sometimes I like to think it would be nice if you just had a character, and your personal life was your personal life. My life is definitely out there, you know?

I am not going to share my private life with millions of people. I don't find a need to do that and nobody else close to me does either.

We aren't people who believe that just because we're performers our opinions on everything need to be known.

I wasn't interested in having to live with a camera - I have a hard enough time getting along with myself. I don't need cameras around and all that action.

To me, being an intellectual doesn't mean knowing about intellectual issues; it means taking pleasure in them.

Private life is private life. Off the pitch, there is private life, and the rest is social life, where of course you have to behave responsibly.

My show is my statement. What I have to say is on the screen. My life is my own. I don't want to talk about my private self. Why should I?

I may be President of the United States but my personal life is nobody’s damn business