Newsletters
Executive Lifestyle
Hillary Hoffower
Updated
2020-09-16T22:31:00Z
- Anyone can build wealth, but your beliefs about money can affect how much wealth you'll build.
- Just consider the world's self-made billionaires — they got where they are today because of their attitudes toward money and success.
- These quotes about money from self-made billionaires are sure to inspire you.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
NEW LOOK
Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview
Thanks for signing up!
Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.
Advertisem*nt
Building wealth is possible regardless of your financial situation or education. But your beliefs about money can play a huge role in whether or not you finish rich.
So why not look to those who have been there, done that for inspiration?
From investor Warren Buffett and entrepreneur Mark Cuban to tech mogul Jeff Bezos and media maven Oprah Winfrey, Business Insider rounded up quotations about money from self-made billionaires that will shift your perspective on business, investing, and success.
Many of their perspectives share a commonality: They don't measure success by the amount of money they make. Money isn't the end goal and it doesn't define them, but it's important to invest it wisely if you want to build more wealth down the road.
Advertisem*nt
Here's what some of the world's richest men and women have to say about money.
Emmie Martin contributed to an earlier version of this post.
Advertisem*nt
"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." — Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Source: Good Reads
"There are very few people in the world who get to build a business like this. I think trading that for some short-term gain isn't very interesting." — Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc., on not selling to Facebook
Source: CNBC
Advertisem*nt
"The reason I've been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been money." — Oprah Winfrey, business magnate
Source: Entrepreneur
"And I think the more money you put in people's hands, the more they will spend. And if they don't spend it, they invest it. And investing it is another way of creating jobs. It puts money into mutual funds or other kinds of banks that can go out and make loans, and we need to do that." — Michael Bloomberg, CEO of Bloomberg LP
Source: Google Books
Advertisem*nt
"If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach." — Larry Page, Google cofounder and former CEO of Alphabet Inc.
Source: Time
"I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it's the same hamburger." — Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft
Source: MSN
Advertisem*nt
"When a small business grows like eBay did, it has a multiplier effect. It creates other small businesses that supply it with intellectual capital, goods, and services." — Meg Whitman, former CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and current CEO of Quibi
Source: Economic Times
"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out." — Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
Source: Investopedia
Advertisem*nt
"You always hear the phrase, money doesn't buy you happiness. But I always in the back of my mind figured a lot of money will buy you a little bit of happiness. But it's not really true." — Sergey Brin, Google cofounder and former president of Alphabet Inc.
"If you have less than $1 million, you know how to spend the money. [At] $1 billion, that's not your money. ... The money I have today is a responsibility. It's the trust of people on me." — Jack Ma, cofounder and former CEO of Alibaba Group
Source: Business Insider
Advertisem*nt
"The financial markets generally are unpredictable. ... The idea that you can actually predict what's going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market." —George Soros, investor and chairman of Soros Fund Management
Source: Investopedia
"As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own." — Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Inc.
Source: Entrepreneur
Advertisem*nt
"I never thought about becoming wealthy. It never crossed my mind. What really motivated me was to try to accomplish something." — Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation
Source: Jewish Press
"My goal was never to just create a company. A lot of people misinterpret that, as if I don't care about revenue or profit or any of those things. But what not being just a company means to me is not being just that — building something that actually makes a really big change in the world." — Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook
Source: Entrepreneur
Advertisem*nt
"Wealth isn't the same thing as intelligence." — Larry Ellison, cofounder and CTO of Oracle
Source: Chicago Tribune
"Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential." — Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
Source: Good Reads
Advertisem*nt
"My philosophy is that if I have any money, I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around." — Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group
Source: Thrillist
"Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it." — Mark Cuban, entrepreneur
Source: Inc.
Advertisem*nt
"When it came rolling in, the money affected us all. Not much, and not for long, because none of us was ever driven by money. But that's the nature of money. Whether you have it or not, whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, it will try to define your days. Our task as human beings is not to let it." — Phil Knight, cofounder of Nike
Source: Good Reads
"When I look back on whatever my past has been and the successes, my greatest rewards have been the people and the relationships that I've had. The money has been an accident. I mean, it's a good accident, but I happened to be playing a game that I love." — Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates
Source: CNBC
Read next
More...
Advertisem*nt
