“Evidence that people are selling stocks at a time when they ought to be eating lunch is always regarded as a serious matter.”
“Never give anyone the advice to buy or sell shares, because, where perspicacity is weakened, the most benevolent piece of advice can turn out badly.”
“The moral may be that psychological gestures on the Exchange are most effective when they are neither intended nor really needed.”
“It is foolish to think that you can withdraw from the Exchange after you have tasted the sweetness of the honey.”
“The Edsel, these people argued, was designed, named, advertised, and promoted with a slavish adherence to the results of public-opinion polls and of their younger cousin, motivational research, and they concluded that when the public is wooed in an excessively calculated manner, it tends to turn away in favor of some gruffer but more spontaneously attentive suitor.”
“In industry, you take a bump now and then, but you bounce back as long as you don’t get defeated inside.”
“To set high goals, to have almost unattainable aspirations, to imbue people with the belief that they can be achieved—these are as important as the balance sheet, perhaps more so.”
“Furthermore, I found it seductive. In fact, I was in danger of becoming a slave. Business has its man-eating side, and part of the man-eating side is that it’s so absorbing.”
“I don’t think money makes much difference, as long as you have enough.”
“Every dog has one free bite. A dog cannot be presumed to be vicious until he has proved that he is by biting someone.”
“That day in November, here at the bank, when a courier brought me the top-secret British document informing us of the decision to devalue, I felt physically sick. Sterling would not be the same. It would never again command the same amount of faith around the world.”
Gates Notes: The best business book I’ve ever read
The Independent: Business Adventures by John Brookes: A Bible for billionaires