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Francois Rochon: Cassandra
“Trying to predict market quotations – for a stock, a sector or the whole market – is futile. It is astounding to see how many investment ‘professionals’ continue to waste their time and talent on an activity that has so many times proved its uselessness. And what is most surprising is that many investors still…
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Howard Marks: Rarely same person twice
“In both economic forecasting and investment management, it’s worth noting that there’s usually someone who gets it exactly right… but it’s rarely the same person twice. ” —Howard Marks.
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Warren Buffett: Track records
“I have no use whatsoever for projections or forecasts. They create an illusion of apparent precision. The more meticulous they are, the more concerned you should be. We never look at projections, but we care very much about, and look very deeply at, track records. If a company has a lousy track record, but a…
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Warren Buffett: Frailties of the prophet
“My own investment philosophy has developed around the theory that prophecy reveals far more about the frailties of the prophet than it reveals of the future. ” —Warren Buffett.
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Charlie Munger: Sheep guts
“People have always had this craving to have someone tell them the future. Long ago, kings would hire people to read sheep guts. There’s always been a market for people who pretend to know the future. Listening to today’s forecasters is just as crazy as when the king hired the guy to look at the…
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Warren Buffett: Poison
“I continue to believe that short-term market forecasts are poison and should be kept locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children.” —Warren Buffett.
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John Kay: Differences between forecasts
“The differences between forecasts are trivial relative to the difference between all forecasts and what happens. ” —John Kay.
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Howard Marks: Alternative outcomes
“Most forecasts don’t allow for alternative outcomes” —Howard Marks.
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Ian Wilson: No amount of sophistication
“No amount of sophistication is going to allay the fact that all of your knowledge is about the past and all your decisions are about the future.” — Ian Wilson.
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Derek Thompson: Future of popularity
“In all sorts of markets—music, film, art, and politics—the future of popularity will be harder to predict as the broadcast power of radio and television democratizes and the channels of exposure grow…. The gatekeepers had their day. Now there are simply too many gates to keep.” —Derek Thompson, Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in…
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Nate Silver: Noisy data
“Who needs theory when you have so much information? But this is categorically the wrong attitude to take toward forecasting, especially in a field like economics where the data is so noisy.” —Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t.
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Ruchir Sharma: Forecast so far in the future
“The old rule of forecasting was to make as many forecasts as possible and publicise the ones you got right. The new rule is to forecast so far in the future, no one will know you got it wrong.” —Ruchir Sharma, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles.
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William James Moore: Measure
“The measure of your character and mental toughness is the space between what you are doing and what you could be doing.” —William James Moore, On Character and Mental Toughness.
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Piyush Goyal: All lights are on
“In New York, lights are on the whole night; there are offices where not a single person is working, but all lights are on. The street lights at the White House are lit all the day. Why? And we are being told not to use coal.” —Piyush Goyal.
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Dolly Parton: Rainbow
“I wanted to write a book that talked about the emotions of children, which is the rainbow. We all have moods. We talk about being blue when we’re sad, and being yellow when we’re cowards, and when we’re mad, we’re red.” —Dolly Parton.
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James Gandolfini: Give respect
“Those who want respect, give respect.” —James Gandolfini.
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Vicki Baum: Marriage
“Marriage always demands the finest arts of insincerity possible between two human beings.” —Vicki Baum.
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Jack Nicholson: Never fight anybody you don’t love
“Well, a girlfriend once told me never to fight with anybody you don’t love.” —Jack Nicholson.
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Abraham Joshua Heschel: Purity of dogma
“We worry more about the purity of dogma than about the integrity of love.” —-Abraham Joshua Heschel, rabbi and professor (11 Jan 1907-1972).
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb: Bureaucracy
“Bureaucracy is a construction by which a person is conveniently separated from the consequences of his or her actions.” —Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
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Gina Rodriguez: No to projects
“I’ve specifically decided to say no to projects that weren’t advancing Latinos, that weren’t showing us in a positive light, roles that were gratuitous and spreading untruths.” —Gina Rodriguez.
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Simon Sinek: Connect with people
“Remember to connect with people now and then. In fact, pick up the phone, right now, and call a friend for no other reason than to say hi.” —Simon Sinek.
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Heath Ledger: Never do it for free
“If you’re good at something, never do it for free. ” —Heath Ledger as The Joker.
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Nikki Bella: Support systems and support groups
“Support systems and support groups are so important because that’s what makes you stronger.” —Nikki Bella.
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David Attenborough: Save a rhinoceros
“The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives, because there’s a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants.” —David Attenborough.
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Jojo Siwa: Tell a teacher, principal or your parents
“It’s a very hard goal. But, what I want is to tell people who are getting bullied to stand up to the bully and not let it be OK – tell a teacher, the principal, or your parents. I want people to stand up and to be confident.” —JoJo Siwa.
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Bret Baier: Freedom
“Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuing revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. It is the right to put forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire among…
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Evan Esar: Tomorrow, yesterday, today
“An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.” —Evan Esar.
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Anonymous: Ignorance better organised
“A good forecaster is not smarter than everyone else, he merely has his ignorance better organised.” —Anonymous.
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C F Kettering: Interest in the future
“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” —C.F. Kettering.
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Arthur C Clarke: Little ironic
“This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.” —Arthur C. Clarke.
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Mark Twain: Full of risks
“Prophesy is a good line of business, but it is full of risks. ” —Mark Twain.
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Edgar R Fiedler: Ground glass
“He who lives by the crystal ball soon learns to eat ground glass.” –Edgar R. Fiedler.
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Paul A Samuelson: Nine out of the last five recessions
“Wall Street indices predicted nine out of the last five recessions!” —Paul A. Samuelson.
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Edgar R Fiedler: Herd instinct
“The herd instinct among forecasters makes sheep look like independent thinkers.” —Edgar R. Fiedler.
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Voltaire: Pregnant with the future
“It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.” —Voltaire.
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Henri Poincare: Without certainty
“It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all. ” —Henri Poincare.
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Edgar R Fiedler: Forecast often
“If you have to forecast, forecast often. ” —Edgar R. Fiedler.
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Albert Einstein: Comes soon enough
“I never think of the future, it comes soon enough. ” —Albert Einstein.
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Mother Shipton: Land of the Cross
“The lily shall remain in a merry world; and he shall be moved against the seed of the lion, and shall stand on one side of the country with a number of ships. Then shall the Son of Man, having a fierce beast in his arms, whose Kingdom is the land of the moon, which…
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Andrew Lang: Support rather than illumination
“An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts — for support rather than for illumination.” —Andrew Lang.
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Leo Rosten: Unexpected
“Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them. ” —Leo Rosten in Rome Wasn’t Burned in a Day.
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Marquis of Halifax: Good memory
“The best qualification of a prophet is to have a good memory. ” —Marquis of Halifax.
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Nils Bohr: About the future
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” —Nils Bohr, Nobel laureate in Physics.
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Kehlog Albran: Only longer
“I have seen the future and it is very much like the present, only longer.” —Kehlog Albran, The Profit.
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Lao Tzu: Knowledge and predicting
“Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.” —Lao Tzu, 6th Century BC Chinese Poet.
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Lloyd Mosemann: Software is always inadequate
“Software is so vital to military systems that, without it, most could not operate at all. Its importance to overall system performance and the generally accepted notion that software is always inadequate makes software the highest risk item and must be steadfastly managed…Failure to address risk has been the downfall of many DoD acquisition programs.…
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Mahathir Mohamad: Adverse comments from others
“If you want to be honest with yourself, you have to take criticism, even if you attract adverse comments from others.” —Mahathir Mohamad.
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Adolf Hitler: Always more difficult
“It is always more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge.” —Adolf Hitler.
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Peter Andre: Divorce
“Divorce isn’t just the person, it’s everything that goes with it – your kids, the adjustment, everything.” —Peter Andre.
