Overconfidence Quotes

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
― John F. Kennedy

“You know, I can't stop thinking about you.
Oh really? Why you so obsessed about me?
Because..you're so full of shit yet still alive.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“Overconfidence precedes carelessness.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“Overconfidence blurs out the risk. Inferiority magnifies it.”
― Toba Beta [Betelgeuse Incident], Betelgeuse Incident: Insiden Bait Al-Jauza

“Don't belittle anyone who you don't recognize.
Don't be fooled by anybody who underrates you.”
― Toba Beta, Betelgeuse Incident: Insiden Bait Al-Jauza

“I have a cunning plan.”
― Richard Curtis, Blackadder the Third (The Award-Winning BBC Comedy)

“A shell in the pit," said I, "if the worst comes to worst will kill them all."

The intense excitement of the events had no doubt left my perceptive powers in a state of erethism. I remember that dinner table with extraordinary vividness even now. My dear wife's sweet anxious face peering at me from under the pink lampshade, the white cloth with it silver and glass table furniture—for in those days even philosophical writers had luxuries—the crimson-purple wine in my glass, are photographically distinct. At the end of it I sat, tempering nuts with a cigarette, regretting Ogilvy's rashness, and denouncing the shortsighted timidity of the Martians.

So some respectable dodo in the Mauritius might have lorded it in his nest, and discussed the arrival of that shipful of pitiless sailors in want of animal food. "We will peck them to death tomorrow, my dear.”
― H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

“Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you could survive the odds beating you.”
― Larry Kersten

“Eyes held high in pride are less able to see uneven ground ahead.”
― Timothy Zahn, Greater Good

“You can achieve anything, but not everything.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Their is no more insidious poison than hubris.”
― C.A.A. Savastano

“Less reasoning when be too sure.”
― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“The absence of doubt is not necessarily a sign of the presence of truth.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“What separates stupidity and smartness is just a tittle of pride and overconfidence.”
― Sinario Vesta, Shambala Sect

“Overconfidence will kill your self-confidence. Mistakes that happen from your overconfidence will kill your confidence.”
― Sijin Bt

“Arrogance gives confidence … a bad name.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“This tendency of overconfidence and poor outcomes is not confined to only retail investors. Institutional investors suffer from overconfidence equally if not more, and their investment results are not superior either.”
― Naved Abdali

“My plan to conquer your world and the rest of the transdimensional multiverse is tomfoolery, but it is certainly not delusion.”
― Aaron Kyle Andresen, How Dad Found Himself in the Padded Room: A Bipolar Father's Gift For The World

“Every time I begin to feel overconfident about a theory or an idea of mine, an underlying, somewhat uneasy feeling invariably visits me.”
― Giannis Delimitsos

“A know-it-all poses to know everything, so he will therefore tell you anything; although his brain forgets that one crucial thing, which is that other people, too, have brains.”
― Criss Jami

“There once was a mouse who lived in a tavern. One night the mouse found a leaky barrel of beer, and he drank all he could hold. When the mouse had finished, he sat up, twirled his whiskers, and looked around arrogantly. “Now then,” he said, “where’s that damned cat?”
― Ernest Shackleton, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

“[C]hildren with right-brain deficit disorder ignore task obstacles, accept impossible challenges, make grossly inadequate efforts, and are stunned by the poor outcomes. These children act fearless because they overlook the dangers inherent in the situation." [citing a researcher]”
― Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

“No matter how devastating a weapon or a tool might be, the moment you use it, somebody starts working on a way to nullify that advantage.”
― Vincent H. O'Neil, The Gathering Elements

“Stories are powerful and memorable. That is why I have told so many in this book. But an individual anecdote can only serve as an illustration. To really convince yourself, much less others, we need to change the way we do things: we need data, and lots of it. [...] People become overconfident because they never bother to document their past track record of wrong predictions, and then they make things worse by falling victim to the dreaded confirmation bias - they only look for evidence that confirms their preconceived hypotheses. The only protection against overconfidence is to systematically collect data, especially data that can prove you wrong. [...] "If you don't write it down, it doesn't exist". In addition, most organizations have an urgent need to learn how to learn, and then commit to this learning in order to accumulate knowledge over time. At the very least this means trying new things and keeping track of what happens. Even better would be to run actual experiments. [...] The ideal organizational environment encourages everyone to observe, collect data, and speak up.”
― Richard H. Thaler, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics

“Make an attempt, when you are unsure.
Rethink! when you are too sure.”
― PRRANAV

“The more times in a row that the coin lands on heads, your confidence in calling heads will grow, even though the odds have not changed.”
― Coreen T. Sol, CFA

“You're more inclined to make a new investment after having success on your most recent transaction.”
― Coreen T. Sol, CFA

“In a case where both the buyer and seller believe they are correct, the most apparent reason for excess trading is overconfidence.”
― Coreen T. Sol, Unbiased Investor: Reduce Financial Stress and Keep More of Your Money

“This is always a problem. Someone saying “I'm going to paint a thoroughbred at full gallop”, does not mean they can. More often than not, they end up scrawling something that just about looks like a squashed rat.”
― Virginie Despentes, Vernon Subutex 1

“So the PM's tame Muslim celebrity turns out to be what we're not allowed to say is usually found lurking in the woodpile, and the man responsible for establishing said Muslim's credentials has fallen down on the job. The PM does rather seem to have be lacking in judgement, doesn't he?"
   "Almost as if a replacement were called for."
   "And who better than the hero of the referendum? Darling, happy endings are so rare in politics. This one will be celebrated for years."
   Like other newspaper columnists, like other politicians, they genuinely thought themselves beloved.”
― Mick Herron, London Rules