Ray Dalio Quotes

You can't think your way out of a box; you've got to act.

I don't guess. I think. I ponder. I deduce. Then I decide. But I never guess.

When I say right, it just has to be well thought out. I feel like I'm on a pretty good roll, and it can't be me trying to force what might be perceived to be next.

Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I'm a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it 'the eaten by wolves factor.' If I do something, what's the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don't worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.

It's got to be the best intellectual exercise out there. You're seeing through new situations every ten minutes. In the stock market you don't base your decisions on what the market is doing, but on what you think is rational. Bridge is about weighing gain/loss ratios. You're doing calculations all the time.

It's bad policy to speculate on what you'll do if a plan fails when you're trying to make a plan work.

Deliberate before you begin; but, having carefully done so, execute with vigour.

I've always been kind of a strategic thinking person - I love sports for instance, but my interest in sports is 'cause I love watching strategy in action or playing it. I'm not into the drama so much, of the physical action. I'm interested in the coach and how he's strategizing.

Remember; no matter how desperate the situation seems, time spent thinking clearly is never time wasted.

I think before I act---and then think again. I am not entirely a coward, but I do not lose myself in action as you do.

Finally, you're right about one point, your entire way of thinking is predicted by what you're immersed in so you know you won't make a bad decision. You can make a bad decision but it's still in the good sphere normally if you work well. You're prepared to face a crew who wants to know everything and poses a hundred questions a minute, because you know you have good reflexes and can respond very quickly.

Whoever makes it a rule to test action by thought, thought by action, cannot falter, and if he does, will soon find his way back to the right road.

Clearly [Donald] Trump likes the way business executives and generals think and talk much more than policy professionals.

Thinking is one of the most important weapons in dealing with problems

The essence of intelligence would seem to be in knowing when to think and act quickly, and knowing when to think and act slowly.

How many situations can be resolved with less thinking?

The trouble was, if you were a chief you had to think, you had to be wise.

Stop talking about the problem and start thinking about the solution.

Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.

My impression of Donald Trump, just having been around him. I don't think Trump needs a lot of advisers. I don't think Trump's sitting up there not knowing what he thinks, not knowing what he thinks is best. I don't think that as these things come and go, he runs around, "What do you think I should do?" I think what happens is he makes up his mind he wants to do something and then asks people how's the best way to make it happen. He goes and talks to the military.

Don't just play your way around the course. Think your way around way around the course.

An inch of foreknowledge is worth ten miles of after-thought.

Sometimes I do have something in my head. But, for me, I think it usually ends up being about considering all of the elements, and trying to understand the distance from where we are to where we want to go.

The major credit I think Jim and I deserve is for selecting the right problem and sticking to it. It's true that by blundering about we stumbled on gold, but the fact remains that we were looking for gold.

Chess teaches you to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good and it trains you to think objectively when you're in trouble