Top 500 Ray Dalio Quotes (2026 Update)
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351. “To be “good” something must operate consistently with the laws of reality and contribute to the evolution of the whole; that is what is most rewarded. For example, if you come up with something the world values, you almost can’t help but be rewarded. Conversely, reality tends to penalize those people, species, and things that don’t work well and detract from evolution.17.”

— Ray Dalio

352. “You better make sense of what happened to other people in other times and other places because if you don’t you won’t know if these things can happen to you and, if they do, you won’t know how to deal with them.”

— Ray Dalio

353. “Ultimately, to help people succeed you have to do two things: First let them see their failures so clearly that they are motivated to change them, and then show them how to either change what they are doing or rely on others who are strong where they are weak.”

— Ray Dalio

354. “Look to the patterns of those things that affect you in order to understand the cause-effect relationships that drive them and to learn principles for dealing with them effectively.”

— Ray Dalio

355. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

357. “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

358. “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

359. “Know that nobody can see themselves objectively. While we should all strive to see ourselves objectively, we shouldn’t expect everyone to be able to do that well. We all have blind spots; people are by definition subjective. For this reason, it is everyone’s responsibility to help others learn what is true about themselves by giving them honest feedback, holding them accountable, and working through disagreements in an open-minded way.”

— Ray Dalio

360. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

364. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

366. “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

367. “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

368. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

372. “Enforce the logic of conversations. People’s emotions tend to heat up when there is disagreement. Remain calm and analytical at all times; it is more difficult to shut down a logical exchange than an emotional one. Remember too that emotions can shade how people see reality.”

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

374. “Never rule out a goal because you think it’s unattainable. Be audacious. There is always a best possible path. Your job is to find it and have the courage to follow it. What you think is attainable is just a function of what you know at the moment. Once you start your pursuit you will learn a lot, especially if you triangulate with others; paths you never saw before will emerge.”

— Ray Dalio

375. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

377. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

380. “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

381. “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

382. “Help people through the pain that comes with exploring their weaknesses. Emotions tend to heat up during most disagreements, especially when the subject is someone’s weaknesses. Speak in a calm, slow, and analytical manner to facilitate communication.”

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

384. “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

385. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

388. “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

389. “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

390. “It’s senseless to have making money as your goal as money has no intrinsic value – its value comes from what it can buy, and it can’t buy everything. It’s.”

— Ray Dalio

391. “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

392. “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

393. “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

394. “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

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

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

397. “There is nothing more important than understanding how reality works and how to deal with it. The state of mind you bring to this process makes all the difference. I have found it helpful to think of my life as if it were a game in which each problem I face is a puzzle I need to solve.”

— Ray Dalio

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

— Ray Dalio

399. “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

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

— Ray Dalio