Max Gunther > Quotes

“The fact is that fairness is a human concept. The rest of the universe knows nothing of it.”
― Max Gunther, How to Get Lucky (Harriman Classics): 13 techniques for discovering and taking advantage of life’s good breaks

“Adventure is what makes life worth living, and the way to have an adventure is to expose yourself to risk.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“The trick, he said over and over again in any number of contexts, is to disregard what everybody tells you until you have thought it through for yourself.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“I have often regretted my speech, but never my silence,”
― Max Gunther, How to Get Lucky (Harriman Classics): 13 techniques for discovering and taking advantage of life’s good breaks

“By diversifying, you become a juggler trying to keep too many balls in the air all at once.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health. If you are not worried, you are not risking enough.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“The trick is to discern a market – before there is any proof that one exists.”
― Max Gunther, The Very, Very Rich and How They Got That Way (Harriman Classics): The spectacular success stories of 15 men who made it to the very very top

“Always take your profit too soon.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Chaos is not dangerous until it begins to look orderly.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“A wise old owl sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can’t we be like that old bird?”
― Max Gunther, How to Get Lucky (Harriman Classics): 13 techniques for discovering and taking advantage of life’s good breaks

“Every day at precisely noon a fellow turns up on a busy street corner with a green flag and a bugle. He waves the flag, blows a few notes on the bugle, utters a mysterious incantation, and goes away. A cop, observing this exercise over a period of weeks, finally gets overwhelmed by curiosity. "What the hell are you doing?" asks the cop. "Keeping giraffes away," says the fellow. The cop says, "But there are no giraffes around here." The fellow says, "Doing a good job, ain't I?”
― Max Gunther, The Luck Factor: Why Some People Are Luckier Than Others and How You Can Become One of Them

“The fact is, nobody has the faintest idea of what is going to happen next year, next week, or even tomorrow. If you hope to get anywhere as a speculator, you must get out of the habit of listening to forecasts. It is of the utmost importance that you never take economists, market advisers, or other financial oracles seriously.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“the Zurich Axioms are about the world of money, and that is a world of human events. Human events absolutely cannot be predicted, by any method, by anybody. One of the traps money-world prophets fall into is that they forget they are dealing with human behavior.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“To make any kind of gain in life – a gain of wealth, personal stature, whatever you define as “gain” – you must place some of your material and/or emotional capital at risk. You must make a commitment of money, time, love, something. That is the law of the universe.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Of course, [risk] is a two-way street. But look at it this way. As an ordinary tax-hounded, inflation-raddled income earner, carrying much of the rest of the world on your back, you are in pretty sorry financial state anyhow.”
― Max Gunther, Zurich Axioms

“I believe good luck comes to people who are ready for it and will use it unselfishly, to help others. I don't believe it often comes to the greedy. As a general rule, the greediest people I know are also the unluckiest.”
― Max Gunther, The Luck Factor: Why Some People Are Luckier Than Others and How You Can Become One of Them

“There are some situations in human life, it is true, in which it may seem wiser to wait out bad times. But that is seldom a wise course where your money is concerned. If you let it get stuck in a bad venture, and if the problems last, you can go for years without having the use of that money. It’s locked up when, instead, it should be out chasing gains for you in other, livelier ventures.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“In speculation, you should put your money into ventures that genuinely attract you, and only those.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Am I making this decision because it’s smart or because a majority says it’s smart?”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Except in such unusual circumstances, get in the habit of selling too soon. And when you’ve sold, don’t torment yourself if the winning set continues without you. In all likelihood it won’t continue long. If it does, console yourself by thinking of all the times when selling too soon preserved gains you would otherwise have lost.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Knowing how to get out of a bad situation may be the rarest of all speculative gifts.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Nostradamus wasn’t often right, but he sure was often.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“There are things that can be predicted. We know precisely when the sun is going to come up each morning, for instance. Tide tables are prepared months ahead. The free calendar I get each January from the bank says what the moon’s phases will be throughout the twelve months ahead. Weather forecasts are less precise but still are reasonably trustworthy and getting more so. The reason why such things can be predicted, and why the predictions can be trusted, is that they are physical events. But the Zurich Axioms are about the world of money, and that is a world of human events. Human events absolutely cannot be predicted, by any method, by anybody.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Why do we go on listening to economic prophets when they plainly know no more about the future than you or I?”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“Racetracks close at the end of the day. Once in a great while, a stock market venture of yours might end when a company in which you’ve invested is absorbed by a bigger company and passes out of existence. But most of the time you will be required to call your own endings.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“If they wanted less, they’d go home with more”, he would say. That was his own axiom on greed.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“You tend to take it for granted, especially if it came to you rather slowly through the year rather than all at once. Instead of saying, “Hey, wow, I’ve doubled my money!” or “Hey, look at this, I’ve got a grand I didn’t have before!” you feel as though you have always had this much wealth.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“The fact is, no formula that ignores luck’s dominant role can ever be trusted. This is the great, liberating truth of the Fifth Axiom.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“So many people were basing decisions on Granville’s forecasts in the early 1980s that when he said something was going to happen, it happened because they believed it would. That is, when he said the market would go down, the prediction scared buyers out of the market – and lo, it went down. This happened early in 1981, when Granville told his disciples to sell everything. The day after this famous warning was issued, the stock market fell out of bed – 23 points on the Dow. All of Wall Street said ooh and ah. What a powerful prophet was this Granville! The plunge was brief but impressive while it lasted.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

“One excellent way to reinforce the ‘ending’ feeling is to rig up some kind of reward for yourself.”
― Max Gunther, The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers