34+ Ray Dalio Quotes

Ray Dalio is a billionaire American hedge fund manager who started the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, in 1975.

Ray Dalio is widely regarded as one of the best financial innovators in the world. To inspire young people to achieve their goals, Ray Dalio penned the best-seller 'Principles: Life And Work', where he shared his philosophies on life, career, business, and money.

This book has some of the best guidance for people to face real-life challenges and emerge victorious. Continue reading for some of the top Ray Dalio quotes on personal choice, conceptual thinking, and human nature that will motivate you to tackle your challenges and achieve your goals.

Check out these golden Ray Dalio quotes on how to lead a successful life.

“I learned that if you work hard and creatively, you can have just about anything you want, but not everything you want. Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Look for people who have lots of great questions. Smart people are the ones who ask the most thoughtful questions, as opposed to thinking they have all the answers. Great questions are a much better indicator of future success than great answers.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Heroes inevitably experience at least one very big failure that tests whether they have the resilience to come back and fight smarter and with more determination.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Pain + Reflection = Progress”

― 'Principles: Summary'.

“In trading, you have to be defensive and aggressive at the same time. If you are not aggressive, you are not going to make money, and if you are not defensive, you are not going to keep money.”

― 'Principles: Summary'.

“The greatest gift you can give someone is the power to be successful. Giving people the opportunity to struggle rather than giving them the things they are struggling for will make them stronger.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

(Ray Dalio quotes cover aspects of life, success, and management.)

Read the quotes below to find Ray Dalio's secrets to leading a happy and fulfilling life.

“Truth - more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality - is the essential foundation for producing good outcomes.”

“It is far more common for people to allow ego to stand in the way of learning.”

― 'Principles: Summary'.

“The happiest people discover their own nature and match their life to it.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Imagine that in order to have a great life you have to cross a dangerous jungle. You can stay safe where you are and have an ordinary life, or you can risk crossing the jungle to have a terrific life. How would you approach that choice?”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life. They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Remember that everyone has opinions and they are often bad. Opinions are easy to produce; everyone has plenty of them and most people are eager to share them—even to fight for them. Unfortunately many are worthless or even harmful, including a lot of your own.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

"If you can stare hard at your problems, they almost always shrink or disappear, because you almost always find a better way of dealing with them than if you don’t face them head-on. The more difficult the problem, the more important it is that you stare at it and deal with it."

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“There’s not enough money in the world to get you to part with a valued relationship.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Remember that in great partnerships, consideration and generosity are more important than money.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Time is like a river that carries us forward into encounters with reality that require us to make decisions. We can’t stop our movement down this river and we can’t avoid those encounters. We can only approach them in the best possible way.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

Get your daily dose of motivation by reading some of the most inspiring Ray Dalio quotes mentioned below.

“Don’t let the little things divide you when your agreement on the big things should bind you.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Don’t let fears of what others think of you stand in your way. You must be willing to do things in the unique ways you think are best.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Thoughtful disagreement is not a battle; its goal is not to convince the other party that he or she is wrong and you are right, but to find out what is true and what to do about it.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing your limits, and if you’re not pushing your limits, you’re not maximizing your potential.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Build the organization around goals rather than tasks.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“To be effective you must not let your need to be right be more important than your need to find out what’s true. If you are too proud of what you know or of how good you are at something you will learn less, make inferior decisions, and fall short of your potential.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“My painful mistakes shifted me from having a perspective of “I know I’m right” to having one of “How do I know I’m right?”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“You don’t achieve happiness by getting rid of your problems – you achieve it by learning from them.”

― 'Principles: Summary'.

"Pay for the person, not the job."

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

"Pay for the person, not the job."

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“What you will be will depend on the perspective you have.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Systemize your decision-making.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

Read the Ray Dalio quotes listed below to help you better deal with the challenges that life throws at you.

“Listening to uninformed people is worse than having no answers at all.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“If you can’t successfully do something, don’t think you can tell others how it should be done.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Don’t hire people just to fit the first job they will do; hire people you want to share your life with.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“It’s more important to do big things well than to do the small things perfectly.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“The people who work for you should constantly challenge you."

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“Choose your habits well. Habit is probably the most powerful tool in your brain’s toolbox.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“What was most important wasn't knowing the future—it was knowing how to react appropriately to the information available at each point in time.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

“In most companies, people are doing two jobs: their actual job and the job of managing others’ impressions of how they’re doing their job.”

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

"I just want to be right—I don't care if the right answer comes from me."

― 'Principles: Life And Work'.

"Do not feel bad about your mistakes or those of others. Love them! Remember that one: they are to be expected; two: they’re the first and most essential part of the learning process, and three: feeling bad about them will prevent you from getting better."