Michael Lewis books
Finance Industry
Bestseller Storyteller

MICHAEL LEWIS QUOTES

“No matter how successful you are, change is always good. There can never be a status quo.” — Michael Lewis

“You want loyalty, hire a cocker spaniel.” — Michael Lewis

“There’s something bad in everything good and something good in everything bad.” — Michael Lewis

“No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.” — Michael Lewis

“The only thing history teaches us, a wise man once said, is that history doesn’t teach us anything.” — Michael Lewis

“People in both fields operate with beliefs and biases. To the extent you can eliminate both and replace them with data, you gain a clear advantage.” — Michael Lewis

“If you challenge the conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done.” — Michael Lewis

“Every form of strength covers one weakness and creates another, and therefore every form of strength is also a form of weakness and every weakness a strength.” — Michael Lewis

“What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don’t need to make smart decisions – if they can get rich making dumb decisions?” — Michael Lewis

“The pleasure of rooting for Goliath is that you can expect to win. The pleasure of rooting for David is that, while you don’t know what to expect, you stand at least a chance of being inspired.” — Michael Lewis

“Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know.” — Michael Lewis

“The men on the trading floor may not have been to school, but they have Ph.D.’s in man’s ignorance.” — Michael Lewis

“Managers tend to pick a strategy that is the least likely to fail, rather than to pick a strategy that is most efficient... The pain of looking bad is worse than the gain of making the best move.” — Michael Lewis

“People don’t like uncertainty, and their minds are tools for making sense of the world, even when the world is senseless.” — Michael Lewis

“Everywhere you turn you see Americans sacrifice their long-term interests for a short-term reward.” — Michael Lewis

“Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck – and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your Gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky.” — Michael Lewis

“Don’t be deceived by life’s outcomes. Life’s outcomes, while not entirely random, have a huge amount of luck baked into them.” — Michael Lewis

“If you challenge conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done.” — Michael Lewis

“When someone says something, don’t ask yourself if it is true. Ask what it might be true of.” — Michael Lewis

“Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic universe. In this match, surprises are expected.” — Michael Lewis

“You cannot wait for the smoke to clear: once you can see things clearly it is already too late. You can’t outrun an epidemic: by the time you start to run it is already upon you. Identify what is important and drop everything that is not.” — Michael Lewis