Most of my writing focuses on serious topics such as population growth, life expectancy, the U.S healthcare system, and our crumbling infrastructure. I also like to profile interesting financial types as was the case with my paper on Ponzi Schemes and an older piece on Fascinating People in Finance. Well, this blog is just for fun although it does contain quite a bit of genuine wisdom. What follows is a list of some of the financial world’s best cliches, pithy sayings, and quotes. They are not listed in any particular order, and I eliminated all of the quotation marks for ease of presentation. So, enjoy!
I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people. − Isaac Newton
There is no such thing as no-risk. There’s only a choice of what to risk, and when to risk it. − Nick Murray
What the wise man does in the beginning, the fool does in the end. − Old proverb
The market’s not a very accommodating machine; it won’t provide high returns just because you need them. − Peter Bernstein
Two essentials for successful retirement are sufficient funds to live on and sufficient things to live for. − Ernie Zelinski
Fear has a greater grasp on human action than does the impressive weight of historical evidence. − Jeremy Siegel
There is always a disposition in people’s minds to think that existing conditions will be permanent. − Charles Dow
Wall Street is the only place that people ride in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway. − Warren Buffett
One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute. − William Feather
Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring a more pleasant form of misery. − Spike Mulligan
The United States has developed a new weapon that destroys people but leaves buildings standing. It’s called the stock market. − Jay Leno
Don’t try to catch a falling knife. − Unknown market adagE
Don’t buy a dead-cat bounce. − Unknown market adage
It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked. − Warren Buffett
A bull market is like sex. It feels best just before it ends. − Barton Biggs
Predictions are hard, especially about the future. − Niels Bohr
October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February. − Mark Twain
Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered. − Unknown
In bear markets, stocks return to their rightful owners. − Unknown
The stock market will always do whatever makes the greatest number of people look foolish. − Unknown
Those who know don’t tell, and those who tell don’t know. − Michael Lewis
In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable. − Rob Arnott
The stock market is never obvious. It is designed to fool most of the people most of the time. − Jesse Livermore
It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for. − Robert Kiyosaki
Investing should be more like watching paint dry or grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas. − Paul Samuelson
I put two children through Harvard by trading options. Unfortunately, they were my broker’s children. − Jason Zweig
If you don’t know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out. − Adam Smith
Most people on Wall Street don’t have principles to begin with. And if they have them, they don’t stick to them. − Warren BuffetT
I’d compare stock pickers to astrologers, but I don’t want to bad mouth astrologers. − Eugene Fama
The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. − Warren Buffett
But investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game. − Benjamin Graham
Just when you think you have the key to the market, they change the locks. − Unknown
Stocks take the stairs up and the elevator down. − Unknown
You can’t imagine how many shrewd, experienced businessmen forget in Wall Street what it took them years to learn. − Edwin Lefevre
Never invest in any idea you can’t illustrate with a crayon. − Peter Lynch
Your investment edge is not something you get from Wall Street experts. It’s something you already have. − Peter Lynch
The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. − Attributed to John Maynard Keynes
Wall Street sells stocks and bonds, but what it really peddles is hope. − Jason Zweig
When money realizes that it is in good hands, it wants to stay and multiply in those hands. − Idowu Koyenikan
Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff. It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this. − Dave Ramsey
I hope these provided a few good laughs. However, the most common message here is that financial expertise and business acumen are nice but success in investing is largely a function of your behavior.