So the world is much more correlated than we give credit to. And so we see more of what Nassim Taleb calls "black swan events" - rare events happen more often than they should because the world is more correlated.
People who think they know what is going to happen next are fools. Surprises - or what the brilliant author Nassim Taleb calls 'Black Swans' - are inevitable. Some are likely to be desperately unpleasant too
Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mantuan swan was heard: To carry nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more.
After eighteen years of being utterly ordinary, I finally found that I can shine" -Bella Swan <3
I have this really morbid, awesome love for the movie Black Swan.
The dying swan, when years her temples pierce, In music-strains breathes out her life and verse, And, chanting her own dirge, tides on her wat'ry hearse.
I'm telling you, the gorgeous of the world can actually look pretty intimidating when they scowl. Imagine a snow-white swan with a scary tattoo holding a chain saw. There's just no way to really prepare for that.
no matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white.
I remember watching Swan Lake and everybody looking exactly the same, but being able to relate because they were the only company I had ever seen even on video that had Asian dancers. The Asian community in Hawaii is actually almost as dominant as the Caucasian community. I thought "I can relate to that company because they look like people that I see every day. " They weren't all little stick-thin Russian ballerinas.
And swans seem whiter if swart crowes be by.
The silver swan, who, living had no note, When death approached unlocked her silent throat.
Tiresome heart, forever living and dying, House without air, I leave you and lock your door. Wild swans, come over the town, come over The town again, trailing your legs and crying!
Why get married? For human beings, marriage is such an unnatural state. If you want monogamy, it has been said, you should marry a swan.
A rare bird upon the earth and very much like a black swan.
swans. . . always look as though they'd just been reading their own fan-mail.
When we accept bad art because it's good politics, we're killing the swan to feed the chickens.
When turkeys mate they think of swans.
If swans weren't real, myths'd make them up.
The Teutons have been singing the swan song ever since they entered the ranks of history. They have always confounded truth with death.
I had seen the ballet of Swan Lake as a child but it was as an adult, when I saw a production featuring Erik Bruhn, that I first noticed how significant a part the ever-present threat of violence played. This juxtaposition of great beauty and grace with a backdrop of pure evil stayed with me for years.