54 timeless quotes on investing and life
"Pain plus reflection equals progress."
— Ray Dalio
"He who lives by the crystal ball will eat shattered glass."
— Ray Dalio
"If you're not failing, you're not pushing your limits, and if you're not pushing your limits, you're not maximizing your potential."
— Ray Dalio
"Don't bet on any single economic scenario. Diversify your bets across different environments so you always have something working in your favor."Read Full Analysis →
"Almost all good and bad outcomes come from the price you pay. Most people's biggest mistake is to not think independently about the value they're getting."Read Full Analysis →
"Raising the probability of being right is valuable no matter what your probability already is. I make my decisions based on expected value calculations."Read Full Analysis →
"Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine. A good business is a well-designed machine that produces outcomes consistently."Read Full Analysis →
"To be a good investor, you need to understand the economic machine and how each of its parts works together. The economy works like a simple machine."Read Full Analysis →
"The most important thing is to have a great culture. An idea meritocracy where the best ideas win creates the most successful organizations."Read Full Analysis →
"The biggest mistake investors make is to believe that what happened in the recent past is likely to persist. Being open-minded about what you don't know is the key."Read Full Analysis →
"Don't let your ego barrier or blind spot barrier prevent you from seeing things as they really are. Be radically open-minded."Read Full Analysis →
"Not all opinions are equally valuable. Weigh the opinions of believable people more heavily — those who have repeatedly succeeded at the thing in question."Read Full Analysis →
"Throughout history, economies have gone through long-term and short-term debt cycles. Understanding these cycles helps you understand market psychology and make better decisions."Read Full Analysis →
"Pain plus reflection equals progress. The most painful moments in investing teach you the most — if you reflect on them honestly."Read Full Analysis →
"When everyone is in agreement, it is almost certain to be wrong. The biggest risks are those that most people don't see coming."Read Full Analysis →
"The holy grail of investing is to find 15 or more uncorrelated return streams. This dramatically reduces risk without reducing expected returns."Read Full Analysis →
"Make sure your portfolio works in every type of economic environment. Ask yourself: what would happen to my portfolio in an inflationary depression? In a deflationary one?"Read Full Analysis →
"Write down your decision-making criteria so you can refine it over time. The best way to make good decisions consistently is to have good principles and follow them systematically."Read Full Analysis →
"Rather than trying to pick the best investments, focus on building a portfolio of uncorrelated bets. Each bet should be sized appropriately to risk."Read Full Analysis →
"Separate your alpha from your beta. Have a diversified beta portfolio as your foundation, and overlay alpha strategies on top of that."Read Full Analysis →
"Don't worry about looking good — worry about achieving your goal. If you're wrong, acknowledge it quickly and move on. The cost of being wrong increases with time."Read Full Analysis →
"When things go wrong, diagnose what went wrong by comparing the outcome to your principles. Was it an error in your principles, or an error in following them?"Read Full Analysis →
"Judge decisions by the quality of the process, not by the outcome. Good decisions can have bad outcomes, and bad decisions can have good outcomes."Read Full Analysis →
"The economy works like a simple machine. Transactions are the building blocks. Credit drives cycles. Productivity growth drives the long-term trend."Read Full Analysis →
"Have clear goals, identify problems, diagnose root causes, design solutions, and push through to completion. This five-step process works for any decision."Read Full Analysis →
"Radical truth and radical transparency are fundamental. If you agree that a real idea meritocracy is what you want, then you must be willing to be transparently honest."Read Full Analysis →
"Think for yourself to decide what you want, what is true, and what to do about it. Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior."Read Full Analysis →
"Truth — more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality — is the essential foundation for producing good outcomes. Don't let what you wish were true stand in the way of seeing what's true."Read Full Analysis →
"The key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well. Adaptation and evolution are the only way to survive long-term."Read Full Analysis →
"Your two biggest barriers are your ego barrier and your blind spot barrier. The ego barrier is your subliminal need to be right and your inability to acknowledge weakness."Read Full Analysis →
"The big economic cycle is driven by debt. When debt is low and people are cautious, credit grows. When debt is high and people are overextended, credit contracts. This cycle lasts 75-100 years."Read Full Analysis →
"A beautiful deleveraging balances deflationary forces with inflationary ones. The key is getting the right mix of austerity, debt restructuring, money printing, and wealth transfers."Read Full Analysis →
"Markets reflect collective expectations of the future. To outperform, you need to be more right than the consensus about what will happen."Read Full Analysis →
"If you can write down your principles as algorithms, you can test them against history and run them forward. Systemize your principles to make better decisions."Read Full Analysis →
"I believe that having principles that work is essential for getting what we want out of life. We need to compare the outcomes we get with our goals to assess our principles."Read Full Analysis →
"The power of compounding is extraordinary. Small consistent returns, protected from large drawdowns, compound into extraordinary wealth over decades."Read Full Analysis →
"Over long periods, the most important force is evolution — in economies, in markets, and in your own investing ability. Those who evolve survive and thrive."Read Full Analysis →
"The most valuable thing about understanding how a company works is understanding its culture and incentives. A culture of radical truth and radical transparency produces the best outcomes."Read Full Analysis →
"Judge management by whether they operate by clear principles. Great leaders have strong principles, communicate them clearly, and hold themselves accountable to them."Read Full Analysis →
"An idea meritocracy — where the best ideas win regardless of who they come from — creates the strongest organizations. Look for companies where truth wins over hierarchy."Read Full Analysis →
"Rather than picking individual stocks based on intuition, use systematic rules tested against historical data. The best investors have systems, not just instincts."Read Full Analysis →
"The key to great returns is finding alpha — returns above the market — from multiple uncorrelated sources. Each source of alpha should be independent."Read Full Analysis →
"Don't concentrate your investments in one country or currency. The world is interconnected but not perfectly correlated, which creates diversification benefits."Read Full Analysis →
"Life is a series of struggles. The key is to struggle well — to find purpose, to keep learning, and to enjoy the journey rather than just the destination."Read Full Analysis →
"Meaningful work and meaningful relationships are the most important things in life. Making money is a side effect of pursuing these well."Read Full Analysis →
"Nature is a machine that evolves through time. Understanding its patterns helps you understand economics, investing, and life itself."Read Full Analysis →
"Don't get lost in the details. Always keep the big picture in mind and prioritize accordingly."Read Full Analysis →
"Every time you make a mistake, you should be grateful because you have an opportunity to learn from it and improve."Read Full Analysis →
"Structure your portfolio to perform well across all economic environments - growth, recession, inflation, and deflation."Read Full Analysis →
"The economy works like a simple machine. Three main forces drive it: productivity growth, short-term debt cycle, and long-term debt cycle."Read Full Analysis →
"Use the 5-Step Process to get what you want: 1) Set clear goals, 2) Identify problems, 3) Diagnose root causes, 4) Design solutions, 5) Execute."Read Full Analysis →
"Think of life as a machine. If you can understand the cause-effect relationships that govern it, you can improve it."Read Full Analysis →
"Make believability-weighted decisions. Not all opinions are equal - weight them by the track record and expertise of the person offering them."Read Full Analysis →
"Be radically transparent. Hiding things requires a lot of energy, builds barriers, and makes everyone worse off."Read Full Analysis →
"Be radically open-minded. Your ego and blind spots are barriers to seeing reality clearly."Read Full Analysis →
"Embrace reality and deal with it. Truth - or, more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality - is the essential foundation for any good outcome."Read Full Analysis →
"Pain + Reflection = Progress"Read Full Analysis →
"Pain plus reflection equals progress."
We have curated 54 verified Ray Dalio quotes, each with source attribution and in-depth analysis.
Ray Dalio frequently discusses value investing, risk management, and long-term thinking.