Forbes Asia August 2017

“THE DAYS OF PUNISHMENT ARE COMING; THE DAYS OF RECKONING ARE AT

HAND. BECAUSE YOUR SINS ARE SO MANY AND YOUR HOSTILITY SO GREAT,

THE PROPHET IS CONSIDERED A FOOL, THE INSPIRED PERSON A MANIAC.”

—HOSEA 9:7

“Crowds exhibit a docile respect for

force, and are but slightly impressed

by kindness—which for them is scarcely

other than a form of weakness.”

—GUSTAVE LE BON

FINAL

THOUGHT

“Refuse to be

stampeded. Do

your own thinking.”

—B.C. FORBES

THOUGHTS ON

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: YALE UNIVERSITY/BLOOMBERG; MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY; MICKEY ADAIR/GETTY IMAGES; AP; KEN CEDENO

/BLOOMBERG;

JONATHAN DRAKE/BLOOMBERG; ANNE MUNRO/TORONTO STAR/GETTY IMAGES; PACH BROTHERS/CORBIS/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES; ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY I

MAGES

“I CAN CALCULATE THE

MOVEMENT OF STARS, BUT

NOT THE MADNESS OF MEN.”

—ISAAC NEWTON

“Over the

short run, the

fundamentals

are often

overwhelmed by

the deafening

noise of

speculation.”

—JOHN C. BOGLE

SOURCES: A SHORT HISTORY OF FINANCIAL EUPHORIA, BY JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH; EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR

DELUSIONS AND THE MADNESS OF CROWDS, BY CHARLES MACKAY; THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR, BY BENJAMIN GRAHAM;

THE CROWD: A STUDY OF THE POPULAR MIND, BY GUSTAVE LE BON; THE CLASH OF THE CULTURES: INVESTMENT VS.

SPECULATION, BY JOHN C. BOGLE; IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE, BY ROBERT J. SHILLER; COLLAPSE!, BY DAVID SKARICA.

Bubbles

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will

be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only

recover their senses slowly, one by one.”

—CHARLES MACKAY

80 | FORBES ASIA AUGUST 2017

“THE FOUR MOST

EXPENSIVE WORDS

IN THE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE ARE

‘THIS TIME IT’S

DIFFERENT.’ ”

—JOHN TEMPLETON

“You can get in

way more trouble

with a good idea

than a bad idea,

because you forget

that the good idea

has limits.”

—BENJAMIN GRAHAM

“Speculation buys up,

in a very practical way,

the intelligence of those involved.”

—JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

“BULL MARKETS ARE

BORN ON PESSIMISM,

GROW ON SKEPTICISM,

MATURE ON OPTIMISM

AND DIE ON EUPHORIA.”

—DAVID SKARICA

“IT’S A BASIC FACT OF

LIFE THAT MANY THINGS

‘EVERYBODY KNOWS’

TURN OUT TO BE WRONG.”

—JIM ROGERS

“It amazes me

how people

are often more

willing to act

based on little

or no data than

to use data that

is a challenge to

assemble.”

—ROBERT J. SHILLER

“THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE

STOCK MARKET IS TO MAKE FOOLS

OF AS MANY MEN AS POSSIBLE.”

—BERNARD BARUCH