James Grant Quotes

#1. [T]he first bad bank loan was no doubt made around the time of the opening of the first bank.

James Grant

#2. Hope sustains life, but misplaced hope prolongs recessions.

James Grant

#3. Growth at an exceptional rate is a red flag in banking. It is hard enough to manage an ordinary bank; to control a sprouting weed is well-nigh impossible. If loans are expanding too quickly, the lending officers have probably been saying 'yes' too frequently.

James Grant

#4. Every debt is ultimately paid, if not by the debtor, then eventually by the creditor.

James Grant

#5. In general, markets know more than the people who write about them.

James Grant

#6. In almost every walk of life, people buy more at lower prices; in the stock market they seem to buy more at higher prices.

James Grant

#7. Successful investing is about having people agree with you ... later.

James Grant

#8. Credit is money of the mind.

James Grant

#9. It's about bums on seats. If nobody wants to listen to what you are doing, it kind of defeats the purpose really, doesn't it?

James Grant

#10. The 1980s are to debt what the 1960s were to sex. The 1960s left a hangover. So will the 1980s.

James Grant

#11. It is an axiom nowadays that no bank fails for lack of capital; unprofitable lending is always the underlying cause.

James Grant

#12. [C]apitalism without financial failure is not capitalism at all, but a kind of socialism for the rich.

James Grant

#13. Debt is always repaid, either by the borrower or by the lender.

James Grant

#14. Nothing beats a little cash in a bear market, of course, and the oldest form of cash is gold.

James Grant

#15. Progress is cumulative in science and engineering, but cyclical in finance.

James Grant

#16. The Fed can change how things look, not how things are

James Grant