Cecil Beaton Quotes

The solid wealth of insurance companies and the success of those who organsie gambling are some indication of the profits to be derived from the efficient use of chance.

Life insurance is a commodity.

I prefer to underwrite. Simple, clear as a country creek.

When I bet on horses, I never lose. Why? I bet on all the horses.

How do commercial interests usually protect themselves from liability claims? Through insurance. In fact, in our society, the litmus test for safety is insurance. You can be insured for almost anything if you pay enough for the premium, but if the insurance industry isn't willing to bet its money on the safety of [biotechnology], it means the risks are simply too high or too uncertain for them to take the gamble.

I won’t bet $100 against house odds between now and the grave.

Bond didn't defend the practice. He simply maintained that the more effort and ingenuity you put into gambling, the more you took out.

Investment banking has, in recent years, resembled a casino, and the massive scale of gambling losses has dragged down traditional activities as banks try to rebuild their balance sheets.

I have a bet with my mom that involves a little money, and if I have too many turnovers, she gets in my pocket. I'm afraid of that for sure.

There is something in people; you might even call it a little bit of a gambling instinct… I tell people investing should be dull. It shouldn't be exciting. Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.

There's a game out there, and the stakes are high. And the guy who runs it figures the averages all day long and all night long. Once in a while he lets you steal a pot. But if you stay in the game long enough, you've got to lose. And once you've lost there's no way back, no way at all.

I think gambling can be a good thing if you don't take it too seriously. Take it and have fun with it, and don't lose what you can't afford to lose.

The important thing is to keep playing, to play against weak opponents and to play for big stakes.

A lot of our respected financial institutions are just casinos in drag.

In Las Vegas, people know that the odds are stacked against them. On Wall Street, they manipulate the odds while you are playing the game.

Keep flax from fire, and youth from gaming.

Back horses or go down to Throgmorton Street and try to take it away from the Rothschilds, and I will applaud you as a shrewd and cautious financier. But to bet at golf is pure gambling.

In the insurance business, there is no statute of limitation on stupidity.

Does the logic connect? What are the range of probably outcomes? You want to figure out what those probabilities are and ideally be the House. It's fine to gamble, as long as you're the House. Also, listen to critical feedback, particularly from friends. Generally they will be thinking it but they won't tell you.

I knew a guy who had $5 million and owned his house free and clear. But he wanted to make a bit more money to support his spending, so at the peak of the internet bubble he was selling puts on internet stocks. He lost all of his money and his house and now works in a restaurant. It's not a smart thing for the country to legalize gambling [in the stock market] and make it very accessible.

People don't expect to die tomorrow, but they do take out insurance, don't they?

Della was my go all in. She was my winning hand. You can't play when you go all in and lose. I'm out." "No, you're not. This hand ain't over yet," Rush said.

I've been on a plane before with more money in jewelry than my life insurance policy, and it's one of the scariest feelings in the world... if you lose it, you have to pay for it yourself, and you don't even get to keep it!

Always cut the cards...and smile when you lose.

This was my first lesson about gambling: if you see somebody winning all the time, he isn't gambling, he's cheating. Later on in life, if I were continuously losing in any gambling situation, I would watch very closely.