Nassim Nicholas Taleb on clever jabs

The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.

An idea starts to be interesting when you get scared of taking it to its logical conclusion.

Forecasting by bureaucrats tends to be used for anxiety relief rather than for adequate policy making.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

Winston Churchill1874–1965

Thus far, the reputed idiot Bush has graduated from Yale and Harvard, made a stack of cash in the oil industry, become the first consecutive-term governor of Texas, defeated a dual-term VP for the presidency, and led his party to [November 5th’s] extraordinary triumphs. Let his opponents keep calling him stupid; if they do, within five years Bush will be King of England, the Pope, and world Formula One motor racing champion.

Tim Blairborn 1965

• Politics

I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.

Mark Twain1835–1910