Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Feynman warns that surviving one round in Russian roulette offers no safety for the next.
In plain terms
Surviving one risky attempt does not make the next one safer.
What can you take from it?
Past luck does not reduce future risk.

Where it applies

  • gambling
  • safety protocols
  • investment

Putting it to work

  • assess current risk
  • ignore past luck
  • plan for worst

Questions to consider

  • What false comfort have you relied on?
  • How do you assess recurring risks?

Another view

Some risks accumulate rather than reset.

More from Richard Feynman

  1. I took this stuff I got out of your [O-ring] seal and I put it in ice water, and I discovered that when you put some pressure on it for a while and then undo i…

    Permalink to quote #15
  2. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

    Permalink to quote #17
  3. If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.

    Permalink to quote #14

Related quotes

  1. Anything you don't understand is dangerous until you do understand it.

    Larry NivenLarry Niven quote #1
  2. Fortune favours the brave:

    Pliny the ElderPliny the Elder quote #1
  3. Indolence is heaven's ally here, And energy the child of hell: The Good Man pouring from his pitcher clear But brims the poisoned well.

    Herman MelvilleHerman Melville quote #2