谢谢关注缓慢思考。好久没有更新，抱歉。
本文来自Farnam Street网站，摘录了Taleb格言集中的20条格言。Taleb是当代伟大的思想家之一，他的随机致富的傻瓜和黑天鹅等影响了包括Howard Mark在内的很多投资大师。在Taleb眼里，世界是不确定的，而人类总是希望把很多想法削足适履一样简化到一些定式里面，就像希腊神话里的Procrustes一样。
The Bed of Procrustes
, the title of
Nassim Taleb
‘s book of aphorisms, takes its title from Greek Mythology.
普罗克汝斯忒斯的床， 是Taleb格言集的书名，名字来源于希腊神话。
Procrustes
(“the stretcher”) owned a small estate along the sacred way between Athews and Eleusis. He invited every passer-by to spend the night in his iron bed. No one ever fit the bed exactly (because he had two) so he would physically alter his visitors so they would fit by stretching or amputating. Eventually he was fitted to his own bed by
Theseus
.
Procrustes
（希腊神话中的强盗）在
Athews
和
Eleusis
之间的神路上拥有一个小庄园。他邀请每一位过路人在他的铁床上过夜。如果客人不完全适合他床的长短（因为他有两个床），他会从形体上硬生生改变他的客人，要么拉伸要么截肢。最后，
Procrustes
被
Theseus
（希腊神话中的英雄）用同样的方法放到了自己的床上。
Even in myth, that sounds pretty grotesque. Who would do such a thing? Who would take something that doesn't fit and make it fit.
即使在神话中，这听起来很怪异。谁会做这样的事情？谁会把不合适的东西强行使其适合。
We do this all the time. Not with people but with ideas. I think that's Taleb's point.
其实，
我们一直这样做。不过不是针对人，而是对想法。我认为这是
Taleb
的核心观点。
Taleb contrasts the ideal classical values against “modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness.”
Taleb
将理想的古典价值观与
“
现代的书呆子主义、庸俗主义和华而不实等现象
”
进行了对比。
“Every aphorism here is about a Procrustean bed of sorts — we humans, facing limits of knowledge, and things we do not observe, the unseen and the unknown, resolve tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas, reductive categories, specific vocabularies, and prepackaged narratives, which, on the occasion, has explosive consequences.
”
“这里的每一句格言都是关于一个
Procrutes
的床
-
我们人类，面对知识的极限、面对没有观察到的东西，面对看不见的和未知的东西，
解决冲突的方法是把生活和世界压缩到到清晰的世俗想法里、或某些简化的类别里、或特定词汇表里。这样的做法，有时会导致灾难性的后果。”
You can consider this a stand alone, yet synthesized, version of Taleb's other works:
Fooled by Randomness
,
The Black Swan
, and
Antifragile
. All of these books deal with how to live in a world we don't quite understand (or as Taleb would put it, “how we deal, and should deal, with what we don't know.”)
你可以认为这本书是一个独立的，但综合了
Taleb
其他作品的书：
Fooled by Randomness
（随机致富的傻瓜）
, The Black Swan
（黑天鹅）
, and Antifragile
（反脆弱）。所有这些书都涉及如何生活在一个我们不太理解的世界里（或者按
Taleb
的说法，
“
我们如何处理、应该如何处理我们不知道的事情
”
）。
Education
教育
Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous.
教育使聪明人稍微聪明一点，但使傻瓜更加危险。
Erudite
博学
An erudite is someone who displays less than he knows; a journalist or consultant the opposite.
博学之人是一个看起来比他知道的要少的人。而记者或顾问角色相反。
Anger
愤怒
If your anger decreases with time, you did injustice; if it increases, you suffered injustice.
如果你的愤怒随着时间而减少，你一定对人做了不公正的事
;
如果反之，你一定受了不公正的待遇。
Advice
忠告
When we want to do something while unconsciously certain to fail, we seek advice so we can blame someone else for the failure.
当我们想要做某事，而无意识它肯定会失败的时候，我们会寻求建议，这样我们就可以把失败怪于别人。
Winning Arguments
赢得争论
You never win an argument until they attack your person.
仅仅靠口头，你永远不会赢得争论。
Listening
倾听
Usually, what we call a “good listener” is someone with a skillfully polished indifference.
通常，
“
优秀的倾听者
”
只是一个熟练地掩饰其冷漠无情内心的人。
On Our Need For Stimulation
刺激
Most people fear being without audiovisual stimulation because they are too repetitive when they think and imagine things on their own.
大多数人害怕没有视听刺激，不过是因为他们自己思考和想象事物过于重复单调了。
Newspapers
报纸
To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week's newspapers.
为了完全治愈报纸，花一年时间阅读前一周的报纸。
Freedom
自由
You don't become completely free by just avoiding to be a slave; you also need to avoid becoming a master.
你不会因为避免成为奴隶而变得完全自由
;
你也需要避免成为主人。
Modernity
现代性
Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur.
何为现代性？：我们创造了没有英雄主义的年轻人，没有智慧的年龄，没有伟大的生活。
Inversion
反向
People focus on role models; it is more effective to find antimodels—people you don't want to resemble when you grow up.
人们关注榜样
;
实际上，找到反面榜样更有效
-
即那些你长大后不想成为的人。
Debates
辩论
In most debates, people seem to be trying to convince once another; but all they can hope for is new arguments to convince themselves.
在大多数辩论中，人们似乎试图互相说服
;
但他们最多能抱有的希望是，新的理由能说服自己。
