A biography for Ron Chernowhasn’t been written yet.
“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.”
“I never dreamed that I would be autographing Playbills.”
“Once the brokerage house, rather than the bank, became the locus for American savings, that money would find its way into the stock market, because the broker was someone with a much higher tolerance for risk than the banker.”
“A crash really occurs when you suddenly have a violent downturn in the market that then heralds a long bull market.”
“Hamilton was young, dashing, and romantic. He lent himself perfectly to be the star of a musical.”
“One of the special characteristics of New York is that it is different from a London or a Paris because it's the financial capital, and the cultural capital, but not the political capital.”
“With any piece of writing, you're hoping that it will change something, and it seldom does.”
“When news of the crash came, probably a lot of people in small towns and farms across America felt a sense of grim satisfaction that the sinners had finally been punished for their wicked ways.”
“One of the very nice things about investing in the stock market is that you learn about all different aspects of the economy. It's your window into a very large world.”
“The British were unhinged by the colonists' unorthodox fighting style and shocking failure to abide by gentlemanly rules of engagement. One scandalized British soldier complained that the American riflemen 'conceal themselves behind trees etc. till an opportunity presents itself of taking a shot at our advance sentries, which done, they immediately retreat. What an unfair method of carrying on a war!”
“In the 1920s you could buy stocks on margin. You could put 10 percent down and borrow the rest against your stocks.”
“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.”
“As a bull market continues, almost anything you buy goes up. It makes you feel that investing in stocks is a very easy and safe and that you're a financial genius.”
“Early on, New York already had a national and even international identity.”
“I don't think that a mutual fund that invests exclusively in biotech start-ups or invests exclusively in companies in Thailand offers any great safety or diversification.”
“Stock market corrections, although painful at the time, are actually a very healthy part of the whole mechanism, because there are always speculative excesses that develop, particularly during the long bull market.”
“In the 1920s, Wall Street was a world that was really dominated by professional speculators and stock pools. These people had a monopoly over information.”
“Unless we know where we've been as a country, we don't know where we are or where we are going.”
“After 1929, so many people had been traumatized by the stock market crash that there was a lost generation.”
“(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.”