Ward Farnsworth, dean of the University of Texas School of Law and author of Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric, says that people have an “appetite for well-expressed wisdom, motivational or otherwise.” I am one of those people.
Quotes are often metaphors that can make a simple idea compelling.
When people talking about business say that you should “skate to where the puck is going, not to where it has been”—or when they just talk about “dropping the ball”—they are making implied comparisons to sports. A metaphor usually succeeds by making its subject more visible, or by making it simpler, or by caricaturing it, Farnsworth says. The quote “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” would be far less powerful or evocative if it stopped after the first sentence.
Some of a quote’s appeal may even be rooted in biology, says media psychology expert and communications consultant Scott Sobel, founder of Media & Communications Strategies, Inc. in Washington, D.C. “Humans are aspirational. We want to look up to role models and leaders and follow what they ask,” he says. “Leaders and their words–inspirational quotes–affect us on a primal level.”
I have put together a list of some of my favorite quotes about money and investing that I hope you will find amusing and maybe even inspirational.
If not, maybe they will serve as a welcome distraction from this crazy pandemic we are experiencing. And please, let me know if you have a favorite quote.
“Financial fitness is not a pipe dream or a state of mind. It’s a reality if you are willing to pursue it and embrace it.” – Nathan W. Morris
“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.” – Jackie Mason
“Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.” – Will Robinson
“If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the banks problem.” – J. Paul Getty
“Buy at the point of maximum pessimism; sell at the point of maximum optimism.” – Sir John Templeton
“When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.” – Marquis de la Grange
“There is nothing wrong with changing a plan when the situation has changed.” – Seneca
“The challenge is not to pick the best investment. The challenge is to pick the right investment.” – Don Connelly
“Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” – P.T. Barnum
“I will tell you a 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.” – Warren Buffet
“I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300.00 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline powered turtle neck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too.” – Steve Martin
“I’m an optimist, but I’m an optimist who carries a raincoat.” – Harold Wilson
“Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level. It’s cheaper.” – Quentin Crisp
“In certain trying circumstance, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” – Mark Twain
“You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt