Peter L. Bernstein Quotes

#1. The revolutionary idea that defines the boundary between modern times and the past is the mastery of risk: the notion that the future is more than a whim of the gods and that men and women are not passive before nature.

Peter L. Bernstein

#2. The prospect of getting rich is highly motivating, and few people get rich without taking a gamble.

Peter L. Bernstein

#3. The Gods are unkind and deny us knowledge of what the future holds

Peter L. Bernstein

#4. The information you have is not the information you want. The information you want is not the information you need. The information you need is not the information you can obtain. The information you can obtain costs more than you want to pay

Peter L. Bernstein

#5. The essence of risk management lies in maximizing the areas where we have some control over the outcome while minimizing the areas where we have absolutely no control over the outcome.

Peter L. Bernstein

#6. Gambling has held human beings in thrall for millennia. It has been engaged in everywhere, from the dregs of society to the most respectable circles.

Peter L. Bernstein

#7. What if I am wrong? Any rational investment plan has to start with that question.

Peter L. Bernstein

#8. If the satisfaction to be derived from each successive increase in wealth is smaller than the satisfaction derived from the previous increase in wealth, then the disutility caused by a loss will always exceed the positive utility provided by a gain of equal size.

Peter L. Bernstein