Washington once advised his adopted grandson that where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent. For there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more easy to make enemies than friends.
(regarding Charles Lee) This eccentric and notably slovenly man was always trailed by his beloved dogs. “When I can be convinced that men are as worthy objects as dogs”, he once explained, “I shall transfer my benevolence to them.
I can bear to hear of imputed or real errors. The man who wishes to stand well in the opinion of others must do this, because he is thereby enabled to correct his faults or remove the prejudices which are imbibed against him.
Again and again in his career, Hamilton committed the same political error: he never knew when to stop, and the resulting excesses led him into irremediable indiscretions.
As often is the case with addictions, the fanciful notion of a gradual discontinuance only provided a comforting pretext for more sustained indulgence.
I think those who invest in mutual funds want someone else to do the thinking for them. But the fact that they can move the money around the family of mutual funds just through a phone call lets them feel that they can play tycoons.
You don’t want too much fear in a market, because people will be blinded to some very good buying opportunities. You don’t want too much complacency because people will be blinded to some risk.
If you go back to the time of J.P. Morgan, the world of high finance was completely wholesale. The prestigious investment banks on Wall Street appealed exclusively to large corporations, governments, and to extremely wealthy individuals.
The public has lost faith in the ability of Social Security and Medicare to provide for old age. They’ve lost faith in the banking system and in conventional medical insurance.
I have developed a very strong partiality for the dead: they don’t talk back, they don’t sue, and they don’t have angry relatives.