Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quotes

Always have a backup plan.

One never knows what life may have in store for us, and it's always good to know where the emergency exit is.

One cannot plan for the unexpected.

Everybody's got plans... until they get hit.

One should expect that the expected can be prevented, but the unexpected should have been expected.

In fair weather prepare for foul.

Expect the best, Prepare for the worst.

Security... it's simply the recognition that changes will take place and the knowledge that you're willing to deal with whatever happens.

I have had sufficient experience of the freaks of fortune; and as I have never trusted greatly to prosperity, I shall suffer less inconvenience from adversity.

There is nothing we can do to assure that this will never happen, but there is a lot we can do to assure that it happens more rarely.

You can’t prepare for the best case; you have to prepare for the worst case.

Don’t ignore planning for unlikely events. Over long periods of time the highly improbable gets more probable to occur at least once.

I am someone who hopes for the best and prepares for the worst.

A government must always be prepared for the unexpected.

When we're ready to do the dress rehearsal, we'll rehearse in the dark. No lights. The reason why I do that is because I don't want the band to rely on me for anything. 'Cause anything can happen - I might stop singing or unplug the mic, just so everybody knows: Keep going, no matter what.

Terrible things happen all of the time, and they can happen in a second. The best thing is to be prepared to react. If you try to control every little thing, you're going to end up miserable - and you're going to fail.

I learned one of the very important lessons in life in the 9/11 attacks. It's good to have a plan for your future; it's even better to write your plan in pencil.

If you take control over those things you can, you are better able to negotiate the unexpected.

I always say expect the unexpected!

I believe in diversification of income, because you never know what will happen. I'm a slightly paranoid person who thinks things could be ruined at any time.

Plan B. You've always got to have a Plan B.

We hope all danger may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be extremely dangerous.

We must prepare for everything.

Even the best plans can change if there's an accident.

Our military plans should be based on the assumption of unpredictability, rather than on carefully drawn, static models of the world.