WIST Quotations

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Black Swan, Part 2, ch. 12 “Epistemocracy, a Dream” (2007)

Dave — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 16:45:09 +0000

Alas, one cannot assert authority by accepting one’s own fallibility. Simply, people need to be blinded by knowledge — we are made to follow leaders who can gather people together because the advantages of being in groups trump the disadvantages of being alone. It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Black Swan, Part 2, ch. 12 “Epistemocracy, a Dream” (2007)

Barrie, James -- Peter and Wendy, ch. 4 “The Flight” (1911)

Dave — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 17:31:12 +0000

Certainly they did not pretend to be sleepy, they were sleepy; and that was a danger, for the moment they popped off, down they fell. The awful thing was that Peter thought this funny.
“There he goes again!” he would cry gleefully, as Michael suddenly dropped like a stone.
“Save him, save him!” cried Wendy, looking with horror at the cruel sea far below. Eventually Peter would dive through the air, and catch Michael just before he could strike the sea, and it was lovely the way he did it; but he always waited till the last moment, and you felt it was his cleverness that interested him and not the saving of human life. Also he was fond of variety, and the sport that engrossed him one moment would suddenly cease to engage him, so there was always the possibility that the next time you fell he would let you go.

J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish novelist and dramatist [James Matthew Barrie]
Peter and Wendy, ch. 4 “The Flight” (1911)

Not included in the 1928 published play, Peter Pan.

Sondheim, Stephen -- Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) [with Hugh Wheeler]

Dave — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 18:13:49 +0000

His voice was soft,
His manner mild.
He seldom laughed,
But he often smiled.
He’d seen how civilized men behave.
He never forgot and he never forgave,
Not Sweeney,
Not Sweeney Todd,
The demon barber of Fleet Street.

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) American composer and lyricist
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) [with Hugh Wheeler]

Moffat, Steven -- Sherlock, 01×01 “A Study in Pink” (2010-07-25)

Dave — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:07:56 +0000

HOLMES: I’m not a psychopath, Anderson, I’m a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research.

Steven Moffat (b. 1961) Scottish television writer, producer
Sherlock, 01×01 “A Study in Pink” (2010-07-25)

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