Motivational Quotes

• "Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself." (James Allen)
• "Being affluent is not a luxury, but a necessity in the future." (Richard Worzel, CFA)
• "A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes." (Hugh Downs)
• "Declines are temporary, gains are permanent." (Nick Murray)
• "In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these." (Paul Harvey)
• "When people are greedy be fearful, when people are fearful be greedy." (Warren Buffet)
• "Eccentrics live longer than more conservative folk. Possible reasons: A strong sense of self, a purpose in life, a sense of humour. The love of ideas. To an eccentric anything is possible." (Longevity Magazine)
• "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is a think to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." (William Jennings Bryan)
• "Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." (Thomas Jefferson)
• "Being able to change allows you to move from a point of view to a viewing point- a higher, more expansive place, from which you can see both sides." (Thomas Crum)
• "A recent report on RRSP’s shows that less than 40% of 25-34 year olds contributed every year to RRSP’s, while 57% of those in the 45-54 age group that put money away in their RRSP’s. What we’re going to see in the next decade is a huge group of boomers moving into their prime years for saving and investing." (David Cork, The Pig and the Python)
• "80% of the population simply cannot afford to retire because they are not prepared financially. The ultimate responsibility for your retirement belongs ONLY to YOU." (Graydon G. Watters, Financial Survival for the 21st century)
• "To everything there is a season, as the prophet says. Economic (and therefore market)
phenomena don’t run in straight lines into walls or over cliffs, but in cycles. And the patient, disciplined investor always wins." (Nick Murray)
• "The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax." (Albert Einstein)
• "The taxpayer is someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take a civil service examination." (Ronald Reagan)
• "Financial success is failure turned inside out. Opportunity is present as a silver tint in the clouds of doubt, and you never can tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the flight when you’re hardest hit, it’s when things seem worse, that you must not quit." (Author Unknown)
• "Most of us miss out on life’s big prizes: The Pulitzer. The Nobel. Oscars. Tonys. Emmys. But we’re all eligible for life’s small pleasures: A pat on the back. A kiss behind the ear. A four-pound bass. A full moon. An empty parking space. A crackling fire. A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot Soup. Cold Beer. Don’t fret about copping life’s grand awards. Enjoy its tiny delights. There are plenty for all of us." (From: Communication Briefings)
• "Never give in; never give in, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense." (Sir William Churchill)
• "In our 2004 Investor Study we found that 42% of all Canadians are at a financial literacy level of 1 or 2. You need a minimum literacy level of 3 to be able to cope with everyday living and to be able to make good decisions and achieve financial goals." (Terri Williams, President, Investor Education Fund)
• "People who live extraordinary lives are people who are willing to do what ordinary people are not willing to do." (Derrick Sweet)
• "Confidence is the ability to transfer fear into various focused thinking, communication and action with the results that weaknesses become strengths, obstacles become innovation and setbacks become breakthroughs." (Dan Taylor)
• "I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindles that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." (Anonymous)
• "A great society is one whose men of business think greatly of their functions." (Alfred North Whitehead)
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." (Martin Luther King Jr.)
• "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." (Francis Bacon)
• "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." (Dolly Parton)
• "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." (Sir Winston Churchill)
• "Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." (Warren Buffet)
• "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." (Hans Hofmann)
• "When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation- it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams." (Les Brown)
• "Believe in the old Chinese saying: Crisis= Danger + Opportunity." (Michael Lee-Chin)
• "Historian Will Durant describes how he looked for happiness in knowledge, travel, and wealth, only to be disappointed. Then one day, riding a train, he saw a quick vignette. A woman was waiting in a tiny car with a sleeping child in her arms. A man got off the train, walked to the car, and gently kissed the woman then the baby, very softly so as not to waken him. Then the family drove off together and left Durant with the stunning realization that every normal function in life holds some delight." (Alan Loy McGinnes, The Power of Optimism)
• "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune…" (William Shakespeare)
• "By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and increasing our ability to do, we become empowered to the task of creating effective useful and peaceful lives." (Steven Covey)
• "Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more." (A. Lou. Vickery)
• "So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." (Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, Mark 4th, 1933)
• "In the short term, the market is a voting machine but in the long-term the market is a weighing machine." (Benjamin Graham)
• "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." (Anatole France)
• "Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." (Thomas A. Edison)
• "They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration of ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor." (Eric Hoffer)
• "To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insight, or inside information. What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework." (Warren Buffet)
• "It is only by understanding the emotion of others that an investor has a chance to produce superior results." (Sir John Templeton)
• "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." (John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848)
• "If past history was all there was to the investment game, the richest people would be librarians." (Warren Buffet)
• "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." (Sir Winston Churchill)
• "Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. but Sir Isaac’s talents didn’t extend to investing. He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later,
• "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men." If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases." (Warren Buffet)
• "All great achievements require time." (David Joseph Schwartz)
• "All problems become smaller if you don’t dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you, grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble." (Admiral William F. Halsey)
• "On the road to success, you can be sure of one thing…there is never a crowd on the extra mile." (Successories Inc. on Perseverance)
• "For the investor who knows what he is doing, volatility creates opportunity." (John Train)