Smart People Saying Smart Things

I’m not really into motivational quotes, but I am all about smart people saying smart things. Below are a few I’ve compiled over the years.

“History never tells us what would have happened, only what did happen.”

-H.W. Baird, The Age of Gold

“We must be careful in praising or condemning because the future may hold surprises for us.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

“The market will not go up unless it goes up, nor will it go down unless it goes down, and it will stay the same unless it does either”

George Goodman (Adam Smith), The Money Game

“The charts tell a plain story, but they do not indicate the future”

William Biggs, It was a very good year

“It is uncertainty, far more than disaster, that unnerves and weakens markets.”

John Steele GordonThe Scarlet Woman of Wall Street

“Being right keeps you in place. Being wrong forces you to explore.”

-Steven JohnsonWhere Good Ideas Come From

“Many people watch the prices of stocks they have recently sold more closely than the prices of those they still own; thus they show themselves to be more concerned with justifying past actions than in planning future ones”

John BrooksThe Go-Go Years

“Information can be a weak motivator”

– Laurence Gonzales, Deep Survival

“We’d like to believe that our current stars are better than the guys we once watched. Why? Because the single best thing about sports is the unknown. It’s more fun to think about what could happen than what already happened.”

Bill SimmonsThe Book of Basketball

“If there were ironclad rules, we would all be following them.”

Josh BrownBe Terrified

“There is nothing reliable to be learned about making money. If there were, study would be intense, and everyone with a positive IQ would be rich.”

-John Kenneth Galbraith

“How do you make a billion dollars in oil. It’s really easy, you get up early, work hard, and strike oil.”

-Paul Getty

“The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.”

-Edwin Schlossberg

“If people don’t want to come to the ball park, you can’t stop them.”

-Yogi Berra

“Be silent; for there is great danger that you will immediately vomit up what you have not digested”

– Epictetus

“Hire good people, and leave them alone.”

– William McKnight 

“Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the result of intense practice for a minimum of 10 years.”

-Anders Ericsson

“What you should learn when you make a mistake because you did not anticipate something is that the world is difficult to anticipate. That’s the correct lesson to learn from surprises: that the world is surprising.”

-Daniel Kahneman

“It’s funny how sometimes prices seem to go against all the rules”

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Gold (seriously)

“A team championship exposes the limits of self-reliance, selfishness, and irresponsibility.”

-Bill Bradley

“He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know.”

-Annie Dillard

“An arithmetic increase in the number of decisions results in a geometric increase in difficulty.”

-Laslo Birinyi

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.”

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

“We do the worst possible thing at the worst possible time because we are most certain that we are right just when we are most likely to be wrong.”

-Jason Zweig

“Nearly everyone interested in common stocks wants to be told by someone else what he thinks the market is going to do. The demand being there, it must be supplied.”

-Benjamin Graham

“Stronger than an Army is an idea whose time has come.”

-Victor Hugo

This content, which contains security-related opinions and/or information, is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon in any manner as professional advice, or an endorsement of any practices, products or services. There can be no guarantees or assurances that the views expressed here will be applicable for any particular facts or circumstances, and should not be relied upon in any manner. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment.

The commentary in this “post” (including any related blog, podcasts, videos, and social media) reflects the personal opinions, viewpoints, and analyses of the Ritholtz Wealth Management employees providing such comments, and should not be regarded the views of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC. or its respective affiliates or as a description of advisory services provided by Ritholtz Wealth Management or performance returns of any Ritholtz Wealth Management Investments client.

References to any securities or digital assets, or performance data, are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others.

The Compound Media, Inc., an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here: https://www.ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers

Please see disclosures here.