Nick Bostrom Quotes

Tomorrow always arrives. It is always different. And even the mightiest company is in trouble if it has not worked on the future. Being surprised by what happens is a risk that even the largest and richest company cannot afford, and even the smallest business need not run.

Security isn't what the wise person looks for; it's opportunity. And once we begin looking for that, we find it on every side. You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together.

If you are not actively seeking and creating opportunities, which always contain an element of risk, you are actually exposing yourself to more serious risks in the long term.

He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building.

Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.

Businesses always have opportunities to improve service, product lines, manufacturing techniques, and the like, and obviously these opportunities should be seized. But a business that constantly encounters major change also encounters many chances for major error

I may say that this is the greatest factor: the way in which the expedition is equipped, the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order, luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time, this is called bad luck.

It takes character to sit there with all that cash and do nothing. I didn't get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities.

You want to be an alchemist so badly? Don't wait to react to the immediate problem. Plan ahead. Look at the big picture and you won't ever have to deal with that problem. Better to save yourself from a major catastrophe than drag your feet over a bunch of little inconveniences.

Investment in reliability will increase until it exceeds the probable cause of errors, or until someone insists on getting some useful work done.

The only real security is in having lots of opportunity. But risk is the price to pay for opportunity. And risk is scary.

Precaution is better than a cure.

Great events ever depend but upon a single hair. The adroit man profits by everything, neglects nothing which can increase his chances; the less adroit, by sometimes disregarding a single chance, fails in everything.

Creating opportunities means looking where others are not.

It's important to take risks.

The biggest risk is not taking any risk.

No misfortune is worse than underestimating the enemy. Underestimating the enemy, I risk losing my treasure.

It is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes.

A management decision is irresponsible if it risks disaster this year for the sake of a grandiose future.

If you don't choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.

Fail to plan, plan to fail.

Risk is not a dirty word.

Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn't making mistakes that's critical; it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.

In war, where imperfect intelligence, the threat of a catastrophe, and the number of accidents are incomparably greater than any other human endeavor, the amount of missed opportunities, so to speak, is therefore bound to be greater.

The ones who make it, are the ones who manage risk.