“The four most expensive words in the English language are ‘This time it’s different’”

John Templeton (1912-2008) was an American-born British investment advisor who believed in financial trends and cycles. He is credited with saying (by at least 1993): “The four most expensive words in the English language are ‘This time it’s different.’” (Also called “the four most dangerous words in the English language.”)
 
By ignoring “this time it’s different,” Templeton sought to avoid panic selling and frenzied buying, choosing instead to wait for the financial cycle to turn again.
   
     
Wikiquote: John Templeton
Sir John Marks Templeton (29 November 1912 - 8 July 2008) was an American-born British stock investor, businessman, philanthropist and founder of the John Templeton Foundation and the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities.
 
Sourced
. The four most expensive words in the English language are “this time it’s different.”
As quoted in The Four Pillars of Investing : Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio (2002) by William Bernstein
     
24 February 1987, Miami (FL) Herald, “These Raging Bulls Are Turning Cautious,” pg. 4B:
“This time it’s different, they say,” Kern observed. “Actually, it’s never different. The market has always gone in cycles and it will again.”
 
Google News Archive
7 March 1993, Wilmington (DE) Morning Star, “Is market heading for a correction?”, pg. 3E, col. 3:
EXETER, N.H.—Mutual fund pioneer John Templeton once said that the four most dangerous words in the English language are: “This time it’s different.”
   
interactive investor
Next time it’s different
Barry Riley from Money Observer
24.06.09 15:50
(...)
The next year will be tough. The late Sir John Templeton, a stock market guru, once quipped that the four most dangerous words in the investment lexicon were ‘this time it’s different’. Now we have to get our heads around the implications of a still more alarming proposition: next time it’s different.
 
KCI Investing
Buying Opportunity
By Elliott H Gue Published June 24th, 2009
(...)
There’s an old saying on Wall Street that the most expensive words in business are “this time it’s different.”
 
Blog.IU.com
Past Is No Prologue 
Written by Dave Nadig -  July 17, 2009 00:00 AM  
There’s an old saying that the four most expensive words in the English language are: “This time it’s different.” Well, at some point, things are different.