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Only in recent history has “working hard” signaled pride rather than shame for lack of talent, finesse and, mostly, sprezzatura.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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More quotes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Ethical man accords his profession to his beliefs, instead of according his beliefs to his profession.

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits.

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love (1973)

History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

James Joyce Ulysses (1922)

If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past, — so good night!

Thomas Jefferson

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Nassim Nicholas Taleb (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.