“The stock price is a hollow god”
John Sawyer Carroll (1942-2015) of the Baltimore (MD)
“The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s butt every day” (investment proverb)
"The sun doesn't/don't shine on the same dog's ass/back/butt/eyes/tail every day/all the time/forever" means that one can't expect to get lucky and have some nice…
“The tape tells the story” (Wall Street proverb)
Wall Street used to receive stock quotations from ticker tape, roughly from 1867-1960s. The expression "The tape tells the story" is cited in print from at least 1896. The once-popular…
“The toughest fades are the best trades”
Entry in progress -- B.P. MinyanvilleRandom Thoughts: Aren't The Toughest Fades The Best Trades?By Todd Harrison Nov 20, 2007 12:44 pm(...)•Aren't the toughest fades the best trades?…
“The trend is your friend” (Wall Street proverb)
Entry is progress -- B.P. 18 July 1983, American Banker:At the Geldermann Group, the sage advice was not to fight the markets. "The trend is your friend," analysts there advised their…
“The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money”
Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979-1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975-1990. In a speech to the Conservative Party Conference on October 10, 1975,…
“The two happiest days of a man’s life—the day he bought the boat and the day he sold the boat”
A common saying in the boating world is that the two happiest days in a man's life are when he buys a boat (especially a yacht) and when he sells it. When a person buys a boat or a yacht, the…
“The two most important things about money are, to make it first, then make it last”
"The two most important things about money are, to make it first, then make it last" is a popular saying about money. "For, having to make it first, they had to make it last"…
“The U.S. dollar is the best-looking horse in the glue factory”
"The U.S. dollar is the best-looking horse in the glue factory" is a statement that has been used by many American financial leaders. A glue factory is where old, sick horses go to die;…
“The U.S. dollar is the cleanest dirty shirt”
"Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt" is a lyric in the country song "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down." written by Kris…
“The U.S. dollar is the leper with the most fingers”
In the film The Two Jakes (1990), actor Jack Nicholson spoke this memorable line: "What I do for a living may not be very reputable. But I am. In this town I'm the leper with the most…
“The U.S. government is an insurance company with an army”
Is the U.S. government an insurance company? It pays out Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security -- and it has an army. Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Peter R. Fisher said at the Columbus Council…
“The upper crust is a bunch of crumbs held together by a lot of dough”
"The upper crust, metaphorically speaking, is composed of a lot of crumbs held together by dough" is cited from May 1945, when it was credited to "J. C. T." A "crumb"…
“The way to make money is to identify the trend whose premise is false, then bet against it”
Entry in progress -- B.P. Wikipedia: George SorosGeorge Soros (/ˈsɔroʊs/ or /ˈsɔrəs/; Hungarian: Soros György; Hungarian: [ˈʃoroʃ]; born August 12, 1930, as Schwartz György) is a…
“The world does not owe you anything. You are not a loan”
"You are not a loan" (a pun on "you are not alone") was painted on a business sign and printed in the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) on May 24, 1998. "You are not a…
“The worst advice is free advice” (“The most expensive advice is free advice”)
Financial author Robert Kiyosaki, of the "Rich Dad" website and series of books, wrote in Rich Dad's Retire Young, Retire Rich: How to get rich and stay rich forever! (2002):…
“Them that has, gets”
"Them that has, gits" was mentioned in a Boston (MA) Record anecdote in 1885. Two women were chatting, and one said that the Biblical Sarah was left a lot of money. The other woman…
“There are four dimensions to most things we buy these days: length, width, height and debt”
"There are three dimensions to credit cards: length, width and debt" -- "debt" sounds a bit like "depth" -- is a jocular saying that has been printed on several…
“There are many possible reasons to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy” (Wall Street adage)
A Wall Street saying about insider trading is that there are many possible reasons to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy -- to make money. Selling a stock could mean that someone has inside…
“There are more important things than money, but they won’t date you if you don’t have any”
"There are more important things than money, but they won't date you if you don't have any" is a jocular line about money and dating that has been cited in print since at least…