George Soros quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by George Soros

George Soros Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from George Soros on Wise Famous Quotes.

You could adjust the punishment to fit the infraction. Even a small fine would be enough to bring an errant government to heel.

My original intention was to spend the money in my lifetime.

I would prefer not to be involved in party politics.

The reality is that financial markets are self-destabilizing; occasionally they tend toward disequilibrium, not equilibrium.

The hardest thing to judge is what level of risk is safe.

Democracy, by its very nature, can't be imposed on people. Democracy has to be the people deciding for themselves.

President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests, and undermining American values.

America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany. We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process.

As I discovered, there is a great deal of similarity between a boom-bust process in the financial markets and the rise and fall of the Soviet system.

The laissez-faire argument relies on the same tacit appeal to perfection as does communism.

Every bubble has two components: something - some real trend, and a misconception about that trend.

Start by assuming the market is always wrong, so if you copy everybody else on Wall Street, you're doomed to do poorly.

Globalization has rendered the world increasingly interdependent, but international politics is still based on the sovereignty of states.

Any central bank should only be in charge of liquidity. Solvency is a matter for the treasury.

I'm only rich because I know when I'm wrong.

I am for maximum supervision and minimum regulation.

At present, the developed countries condescend to the developing ones.

Changeless society is characterized by the absense of alternatives.

The ultimate asset bubble is gold.

A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy.

My approach works not by making valid predictions but by allowing me to correct false ones.

It is much easier to put existing resources to better use, than to develop resources where they do not exist.

The world order needs a major overhaul.

It is credit that matters, not money (in other words, monetarism is a false ideology).

I commissioned two political experts to advise me about what I could do to oppose the re-election of President Bush.

The financial markets play an active role in determining what's going to happen, how the economy is going to function.

The worse a situation becomes the less it takes to turn it around, the bigger the upside.

Political debate is more interested in manipulating the truth, than finding the truth.

If every rich person gave 50 percent of their wealth to charity, I would not say they should pay more taxes.

A lot of the evil in the world is actually not intentional. A lot of people in the financial system did a lot of damage without intending to.

The bureaucratic method of building an integrated Europe has exhausted its potential.

Markets can influence the events that they anticipate.

I have made it a principle to give advice that does not serve my personal interest but rather the common interests.

Stock market bubbles don't grow out of thin air. They have a solid basis in reality, but reality as distorted by a misconception.

Market prices are always wrong in the sense that they present a biased view of the future.

I'm not better than the next trader, just quicker at admitting my mistakes and moving on to the next opportunity.

When interest rates are low we have conditions for asset bubbles to develop, and they are developing at the moment. The ultimate asset bubble is gold.

The scope for improvement is infinite, precisely because perfection is unattainable.

Everything adds up to a major crisis. Humanity is faced with a global energy crisis ... The core of the crisis lies in the increasing shortage of oil.

Now that I have called you on your false accusation, you are using additional smear tactics.

My main concern is with the world order

Increase your bets when you are confident and scale down your positions when you don't have conviction.

This crisis has the potential to be a lot worse than Lehman Brothers.

To others, being wrong is a source of shame; to me, recognizing my mistakes is a source of pride.

Markets are imperfect. So you do need regulation, knowing that the regulators are also human.

Esperanto was a very useful language, because wherever you went, you found someone to speak with.

Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman.

Studying economics is not a good preparation for dealing with it.

If the bubbles contain a misconception, as they always do, then it can't be maintained forever.

The strength of this country lies in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and the freedom of speech and thought.

When money is free, the rational lender will keep on lending until there is no one else to lend to.

The prevailing wisdom is that markets are always right. I take the opposite position. I assume that markets are always wrong.

The main enemy of the open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat.

Unrestrained competition can drive people into actions that they would otherwise regret.

American supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today.

Market prices are always wrong.

Discount the obvious, bet on the unexpected

To be successful, you need leisure. You need time hanging heavily on your hands.

What works for Germany can't work for the rest of Europe: No country can run a chronic surplus without others running deficits.

My sense of insecurity keeps me alert, always ready to correct my errors.

I admire Chancellor Merkel for her leadership qualities, but she is leading Europe in the wrong direction.

It's not whether you're right or wrong, but how much money you make when you're right and how much you lose when you're wrong.

The anti-resource curse initiative has stronger legs than most and that has made me very enthusiastic.

I think that my foundation uses the money better than the government does. In any event, I do pay taxes.

Find the trend whose premise is false, and bet against it.

Short term volatility is greatest at turning points and diminishes as a trend becomes established

The main obstacle to further progress on the resource curse is China, and to a lesser extent India.

If I had to sum up my practical skills, I would use one word: survival. And operating a hedge fund utilized my training in survival to the fullest.

The global crisis is caused by pathologies inherent in the global financial system itself.

Mankind's ability to understand and control the forces of nature greatly exceeds our ability to govern ourselves

There is always a divergence between our perception and what actually exists.

There is no point in being confident and having a small position.

Misconceptions play a prominent role in my view of the world.

Destroying America will be the culmination of my life's work.

If investing is entertaining, if you're having fun, you're probably not making any money. Good investing is boring.

In politics, manipulating reality can take presidence over finding reality.

I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes

Sometimes time actually works against you if you refuse to face the relevant issues and explain to the public what is at stake.

Of course, speculation will always make a crisis worse. If there is a weak point, it will expose it.

The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.

Revolutions usually start with enthusiasm and end in tears.

I called gold the ultimate bubble, which means it may go higher. But it's certainly not safe and it's not going to last forever.

The dark comes before dawn. The financial markets are under great pressure because of the lack of leadership during the transition period.

However, even a strong government can't perform miracles. It needs money from the taxpayers.

Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.

I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society.

Most of the poverty and misery in the world is due to bad government, lack of democracy, weak states, internal strife, and so on.

The sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions.

Law has become a business. Health care has become a business. Unfortunately, politics has also become a business. That really undermines society.

Unfortunately, the more complex the system, the greater the room for error.

Once a trend is established it tends to persist and to run it's full course.

The assumption of perfect knowledge is very far from reality ... a lot of the evil in the world is actually not intentional.

The concept of a general equilibrium has no relevance to the real world (in other words, classical economics is an exercise in futility).

Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.