Top 500 Ray Dalio Quotes (2026 Update)
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351. “Closed-minded people block others from speaking. If it seems like someone isn’t leaving space for the other person in a conversation, it’s possible they are blocking. To get around blocking, enforce the “two-minute rule” I mentioned earlier.”

— Ray Dalio

352. “Diagnose Problems to Get at Their Root Causes.”

— Ray Dalio

353. “Each person at Bridgewater should act like an owner, responsible for operating in this way and for holding others accountable to operate in this way.”

— Ray Dalio

354. “Know that the most constant struggle is between feeling and thinking.”

— Ray Dalio

355. “From this perspective, we can see that perfection doesn’t exist; it is a goal that fuels a never-ending process of adaptation.”

— Ray Dalio

356. “Avoid getting sucked down. This occurs when a manager is pulled down to doing the tasks of a subordinate without acknowledging the problem.”

— Ray Dalio

357. “People interested in making the best possible decisions are rarely confident that they have the best answers.”

— Ray Dalio

358. “Be an imperfectionist. Perfectionists spend too much time on little differences at the margins at the expense of the important things.”

— Ray Dalio

359. “For most people, being part of a great community on a shared mission is even more rewarding than money. Numerous studies have shown there is little to no correlation between one’s happiness and the amount of money one accumulates, yet there is a strong correlation between one’s happiness and the quality of one’s relationships.”

— Ray Dalio

360. “Chances are you won’t have time to deal with the unimportant things, which is better than not having time to deal with the impor-tant things. I often hear people say, “Wouldn’t it be good to do this or that?” It’s likely they are being distracted from far more important things that need to be done well.”

— Ray Dalio

361. “I had grown up in an era of high volatility and had learned that the best way to play it was to get a hold of a big move and ride it.”

— Ray Dalio

362. “Evolve or die. This evolutionary cycle is not just for people but for countries, companies, economies – for everything. And it is naturally self-correcting as a whole, though not necessarily for its parts.”

— Ray Dalio

363. “I didn’t like school, not just because it required a lot of memorization, but because I wasn’t interested in most of the things my teachers thought were important. I never understood what doing well in school would get me other than my mother’s approval.”

— Ray Dalio

364. “I’ve always been an independent thinker inclined to take risks in search of rewards – not just in the markets, but in most everything.”

— Ray Dalio

365. “Focus on the “what is” before deciding “what to do about it.”

— Ray Dalio

366. “I also punched my boss in the face. Not surprisingly, I was fired.”

— Ray Dalio

367. “In order to be great, one can’t compromise the uncompromisable.”

— Ray Dalio

368. “Don’t get frustrated. If nothing bad is happening to you now, wait a bit and it will. That is just reality.”

— Ray Dalio

369. “In thinking about the relative importance of great relationships and money, it was clear that relationships were more important because there is no amount of money I would take in exchange for a meaningful relationship, because there is nothing I could buy with that money that would be more valuable.”

— Ray Dalio

370. “Bad outcomes don’t just happen; they occur because specific people make, or fail to make, specific decisions.”

— Ray Dalio

371. “I now realize that nature optimizes for the whole, not for the individual, but most people judge good and bad based only on how it affects them.”

— Ray Dalio

372. “Raising the probability of being right is valuable no matter what your probability of being right already is.”

— Ray Dalio

373. “Humility is as important, or even more important, as having the strengths yourself.”

— Ray Dalio

374. “I believe one of the most valuable things you can do to improve your decision making is to think through your principles for making decisions.”

— Ray Dalio

375. “Aristotle defined tragedy as a terrible outcome arising from a person’s fatal flaw – a flaw that, had it been fixed, instead would have led to a wonderful outcome.”

— Ray Dalio

376. “Over time I learned that getting more out of life wasn’t just a matter of working harder at it. It was much more a matter of working effectively, because working effectively could increase my capacity by hundreds of times.”

— Ray Dalio

377. “An excellent skier is probably going to be a better ski coach than a novice skier. Believability applies to management too. The better your track record, the more value you can add as a coach.”

— Ray Dalio

378. “It’s a basic reality that if you don’t experience the consequences of your actions, you’ll take less ownership of them.”

— Ray Dalio

379. “In picking people for long-term relationships, values are most important, abilities come next, and skills are the least important.”

— Ray Dalio

380. “I’ve also learned that judging people before really seeing things through their eyes stands in the way of understanding their circumstances – and that isn’t smart. I urge you to be curious enough to want to understand how the people who see things differently from you came to see them that way. You will find that interesting and invaluable, and the richer perspective you gain will help you decide what you should do.”

— Ray Dalio

381. “To help you stay centered and effective, pretend that your life is a martial art or a game, the object of which is to get around a challenge and reach a goal. Once you accept its rules, you’ll get used to the discomfort that comes with the constant frustration.”

— Ray Dalio

382. “Having greatly reduced its price risk, McDonald’s introduced the McNugget in 1983. I felt great about helping make that happen.”

— Ray Dalio

383. “It is the rare bird who has the right mix of common sense, creativity, and character to shape change.”

— Ray Dalio

384. “Keep in mind both the rates of change and the levels of things, and the relationships between them. When determining an acceptable rate of improvement for something, it is its level in relation to the rate of change that matters.”

— Ray Dalio

385. “I urge you to be curious enough to want to understand how the people who see things differently from you came to see them that way. You will find that interesting and invaluable, and the richer perspective you gain will help you decide what you should do.”

— Ray Dalio

386. “Helping people acquire skills is easy- it’s typically a matter of providing them with appropriate training. Improvements in abilities are more difficult but essential to expanding what a person can be responsible for over time. And changing someone’s values is something you should never count on. p422.”

— Ray Dalio

387. “Organisms, organizations, and individual people are always highly imperfect but capable of improving. So rather than getting stuck hiding our mistakes and pretending we’re perfect, it makes sense to find our imperfections and deal with them.”

— Ray Dalio

388. “When a problem stems from your own lack of talent or skill, most people feel shame. Get over it. I cannot emphasize this enough: Acknowledging your weaknesses is not the same as surrendering to them. It’s the first step toward overcoming them. The pains you are feeling are “growing pains” that will test your character and reward you as you push through them.”

— Ray Dalio

389. “There is no avoiding pain, especially if you’re going after ambitious goals. Believe it or not, you are lucky to feel that kind of pain if you approach it correctly, because it is a signal that you need to find solutions so you can progress.”

— Ray Dalio

390. “If you don’t mind being wrong on the way to being right you’ll learn a lot –.”

— Ray Dalio

391. “Even experts can make mistakes; my point is simply that it pays to be radically open-minded and triangulate with smart people.”

— Ray Dalio

392. “Remember that people typically don’t change all that much.”

— Ray Dalio

393. “Recognize that while most people prefer compliments, accurate criticism is more valuable. You’ve heard the expression “no pain no gain.”

— Ray Dalio

394. “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 – and to open-mindedly reflect on the feedback that comes inevitably as a result of being that way.”

— Ray Dalio

395. “While it may seem counterintuitive, clearing your head can be the best way to make progress.”

— Ray Dalio

396. “I believe that the key to success lies in knowing how to both strive for a lot and fail well.”

— Ray Dalio

397. “Knowing how to deal well with your setbacks is as important as knowing how to move forward.”

— Ray Dalio

398. “Power should lie in the reasoning, not the position, of the individual.”

— Ray Dalio

399. “Sincerely believe that you might not know the best possible path and recognize that your ability to deal well with “not knowing” is more important than whatever it is you do know.”

— Ray Dalio

400. “Make sure those who are given radical transparency recognize their responsibilities to handle it well and to weigh things intelligently. People cannot be given the privilege of receiving information and then use the information to harm the company, so rules and procedures must be in place to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

— Ray Dalio