The only thing that could hurt me is if my success encouraged me to return to my childhood fantasies of omnipotence - but that is not likely to happen as long as I remain engaged in the financial markets, because they constantly remind me of my limitations.
Interpretation
Success should not lead to arrogance or unrealistic self-perception; staying grounded is crucial.
In this quote, George Soros expresses the idea that while success can sometimes inflate one's sense of power or control, it is essential to remain aware of one's limitations. Engaging in the financial markets serves as a constant reminder of these limitations, helping to keep one's ambitions in check and preventing a return to naive fantasies of being all-powerful.
In practice
During a motivational speech about humility in success.
The securitisation of mortgages added a new dimension of systemic risk. Financial engineers claimed they were reducing risks through geographic diversification: in fact they were increasing them by creating an agency problem. The agents were more interested in maximising fee income than in protecting the interests of bondholders. That is the verity that was ignored by regulators and market participants alike.
The collapse of the global marketplace would be a traumatic event with unimaginable consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the continuation of the present regime.
Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually.
We are the most powerful nation on earth. No external power, no terrorist organization can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire.
My foundations support people in the country who care about an open society. It's their work that I'm supporting. So it's not me doing it. But I can empower them. I can support them, and I can help them.
The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.
The way to wealth depends on just two words, industry and frugality.
If a man has talent and can't use it, he's failed. If he uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he uses the whole of it, he has succeeded, and won a satisfaction and triumph few men ever know.
Great players never look in the mirror and think I'm a great basketball player. You ask yourself, Am I the best player I can be?
You can't find returns in investments you haven't made.
Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's okay to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.
People who are successful should never forget that it's 90 per cent luck. You've got to be an eejit to be an egomaniac. I had my glory years - 'Blankety Blank,' the talk show, when I was winning every award going.
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