The Greatest Investment Quotes of All Time
The Greatest Investment Quotes of All Time
Posted March 26, 2020 by Nick Maggiulli
Financial Wisdom Throughout the Ages
With all the craziness going on in markets right now, sometimes the best thing to do is not to give an opinion, but to consider the wisdom of those that came before us.
To this end, I have compiled a list of the greatest investment quotes of all time, sourced (where possible) and organized by category. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
Controlling Emotions/Psychology
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” -Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
“Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” -Jeremy Siegel, Stocks for the Long Run (3rd Edition)
“If you’re not willing to react with equanimity to a market price decline of 50% two or three times a century, you’re not fit to be a common shareholder and you deserve the mediocre result you’re going to get.” -Charlie Munger, Interview with BBC
“The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘This time it’s different.'” -Sir John Templeton, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
“The game of professional investment is intolerably boring and overreacting to anyone who is entirely exempt from the gambling instinct; whilst he who has it must pay to this propensity the appropriate toll.” -John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
“If you don’t know who you are, this is an expensive place to find out.” -Adam Smith (pseudonym for George Goodman), The Money Game
“Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.” -Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway 2004 Letter to Shareholders
“Wall Street sells stocks and bonds, but what it really peddles is hope.” -Jason Zweig, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
“Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” -Paul Samuelson
“I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” -Isaac Newton, The Royal Society
“The investor’s chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” -Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor
“Wealth isn’t primarily determined by investment performance, but by investor behavior.” -Nick Murray, Simple Wealth Inevitable Wealth
Humor
“A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends.” -Barton Biggs, Berkshire Hathaway 2013 Letter to Shareholders
“It’s difficult to make predictions, especially with regards to the future.” -Old Proverb, The Most Important Thing
“We are fond of saying that if these strategies are truly horribly overcrowded then someone has apparently forgotten to tell the prices.” -Clifford Asness, We’re Not Dead Yet
“The first rule of investment is: Don’t Lose. And the second rule of investment is: Don’t forget the first rule.” -Warren Buffett, How to Pick Stocks & Get Rich, PBS (1985)
“I put two children through Harvard by trading options. Unfortunately, they were my broker’s children.” -Jason Zweig, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
“If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” -Richard Branson, Harvard Business Review
“If it flies, floats, or fornicates, always rent it—it’s cheaper in the long run.” -Felix Dennis, How to Get Rich
“There seems to be an unwritten rule on Wall Street: If you don’t understand it, then put your life savings into it.” -Peter Lynch, One Up on Wall Street
“If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” -Old Proverb, Quote Investigator
Risk
“I tell my father’s story of the gambler who lost regularly. One day he hears about a race with only one horse in it, so he bet the rent money. Halfway around the track, the horse jumped over the fence and ran away.” -Howard Marks, The Most Important Thing
“Risk and time are opposite sides of the same coin, for if there were no tomorrow there would be no risk. Time transforms risk, and the nature of risk is shaped by the time horizon: the future is the playing field.” -Peter L. Bernstein, Against the Gods
“Large price changes tend to be followed by more large changes, positive or negative. Small changes tend to be followed by more small changes. Volatility clusters.” -Benoit B. Mandlebrot, The Misbehavior of Markets
“Markets look a lot less efficient from the banks of the Hudson than from the banks of the Charles.” -Fischer Black, Against the Gods
“Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
“Risk cannot be eliminated; it just gets transferred and spread.” -Howard Marks, The Most Important Thing
“There is no such thing as no risk. There’s only this choice of what to risk, and when to risk it.” -Nick Murray, Simple Wealth Inevitable Wealth
“Survival is the only road to riches. You should try to maximize return only if losses would not threaten your survival and if you have a compelling future need for the extra gains you might earn.” -Peter L. Bernstein, Interview with Jason Zweig (2004)
Trading/Market Timing
“The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” -A. Gary Shilling/Unknown, Quote Investigator
“Remember that stocks are never too high for you to begin buying or too low to begin selling.” -Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Market Operator
“The most dangerous people in the world are very smart traders who have never gotten their teeth kicked in.” -F. Helmut Weymar, More Money Than God
“We are all at a wonderful ball where the champagne sparkles in every glass and soft laughter falls upon the summer air. We know, by the rules, that at some moment, the Black Horseman will come shattering through the great terrace doors, wreaking vengeance and scattering the survivors.
Those who leave early are saved, but the ball is so splendid no one wants to leave while there is still time, so that everyone keeps asking, ‘What time is it? What time is it?’ But none of the clocks have any hands.” -Adam Smith (pseudonym for George Goodman), Supermoney
“The trend has vanished, killed by its very discovery.” -Benoit B. Mandlebrot, The Misbehavior of Markets
“More people lost money waiting for corrections and anticipating corrections than the actual corrections.” -Peter Lynch, Interview with Fidelity (2019)
“When the Rothschilds got the word about the battle of Waterloo—in the movie it was by carrier pigeon—they didn’t rush down and buy British consols, the government bonds. They rushed in and sold, and then, in the panic, they bought.” -Adam Smith (pseudonym for George Goodman), The Money Game
“The time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.” -Baron Rothschild
“It is my conclusion that the successful investor must [have] … patience to wait for the right moment—courage to buy or sell when the time arrives—and liquid capital.” -Benjamin Roth, The Great Depression: A Diary
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