Quotes about Money

"Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves.”

"For myself, as an investor, I can only add that it isn’t being in the next 20% market setback that scares me. It’s being out of the next 100% advance."

“Change your investment policy in a crisis and you’re all but guaranteed to be wrong – perhaps tragically so.”

"The investor who says 'This time is different'... has uttered among the four most costly works in the annals of investing."

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people (the markets).

“I cannot discover that anyone knows enough about anything on this earth definitely to say what is and what is not possible.”

"A good summary of investing history is that stocks pay a fortune in the long run but seek punitive damages when you try to be paid sooner. Virtually all investing mistakes are rooted in people looking at long-term market returns and saying, ‘That’s nice, but can I have it all faster?’"

"If you understand the math behind compounding you realize the most important question is not 'How can I earn the highest returns?' It's "What are the best returns I can sustain for the longest period of time?'" 

"The true investor scarcely ever is forced to sell his shares... the investor who permits himself to be stampeded or unduly worried by unjustified market declines in his holdings is perversely transforming his basic advantage into a basic disadvantage."

"You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right."

"It's waiting that helps you as an investor, and a lot of people just can't stand to wait."

“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 compared to the people who do have the temperament, who can be more philosophical about these market fluctuations.”

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient”

“Forecasts may tell you a great deal about the forecaster; they tell you nothing about the future.”

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

"A public opinion poll is no substitute for thought."

“Gold is a way of going long on fear, and it has been a pretty good way of going long on fear from time to time. But you really have to hope people become more afraid in a year or two years than they are now. And if they become more afraid you make money, if they become less afraid you lose money, but the gold itself doesn’t produce anything.”

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”

“I will tell you the secret to getting rich on Wall Street. You try to be greedy when others are fearful. And you try to be fearful when others are greedy.”

“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”

“Predicting rain doesn’t count. Building arks does.”

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”

“If you aren't thinking about owning a stock for ten years, don't even think about owning it for ten minutes.”

“There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult. ”

“What the wise do in the beginning, fools do in the end.”

“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”

“When you combine ignorance and leverage, you get some pretty interesting results.”

“Do not save what is left after spending; instead spend what is left after saving.”

“If past history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people would be librarians.”

“Calling someone who trades actively in the market an investor “is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a romantic.”

“Investors should be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like, these models tend to look impressive. Too often, though, investors forget to examine the assumptions behind the models. Beware of geeks bearing formulas. ”

"There is an overabundance of confidently expressed bad opinions."

"Don't pay as much attention to people's conclusions as to the reasoning that led them to their conclusions. It is common for conversations to consist of people sharing their conclusions rather than exploring the reasoning that led to that conclusion. As a result there is an overabundance of confidently expressed bad opinions."

“Remember not to be overconfident in your assessments, as it's possible you are wrong.”

“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”

"Man needs difficulties. They are necessary for health."

Inheritance

Proverbs 13:22 

A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children.

Proverbs 20:21 

An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

Advice

Proverbs 1:5 

A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.

Proverbs 12:15 

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

Proverbs 13:13 

Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it, but whoever respects a command is rewarded.

Planning Ahead

Proverbs 21:5 

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Proverbs 21:20 

The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.

Proverbs 13:16 

A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t, and even brags about it!

Proverbs 27:23 

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds.

Luke 14:28-30 

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?”

Proverbs 14:29 

He who is impulsive exalts folly.

 
Hard Work

Proverbs 14:23 

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Proverbs 12:11 

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

Proverbs 10:4 

Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

Proverbs 12:24 

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

Rest

Exodus 23:12 

Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor.

Psalm 127:2 

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Additional Quotes on Life and Money

Proverbs 13:11 

Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Proverbs 22:1 

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.

Psalm 37:21 

The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives.

Romans 13:8 

Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love on another.

Mark 8:36 

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

Proverbs 28:22 

A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. 

Luke 12:15 

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

This Time is Different

Ecclesiastes 1:9

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."