Banking Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old banking quotes, banking sayings, and banking proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

It is not by augmenting the capital of the country, but by rendering a greater part of that capital active and productive than would otherwise be so, that the most judicious operations of banking can increase the industry of the country. Adam Smith
Banking is a branch of the information business. Walter Wriston
Food banking as well as other antihunger programs do a good job of managing poverty by alleviating its worst symptom, hunger. Mark Winne
At its core, banking is not simply about profit, but about personal relationships. Felix Rohatyn
Investment banking is not a business; it is a personal service where bankers work hand in hand with their clients. And it is a service that must not simply be about making bigger and bigger deals that reap rewards for only a small group of executives. Felix Rohatyn
The art of banking is always to balance the risk of a run with the reward of a profit. The tantalizing factor in the equation is that riskier borrowers pay higher interest rates. Ultimate safety a strongbox full of currency would avail the banker nothing. Maximum risk a portfolio of loans to prospective bankrupts at usurious interest rates would invite disaster. A good banker safely and profitably treads the middle ground. James Grant
In central banking as in diplomacy, style, conservative tailoring, and an easy association with the affluent count greatly and results far much less. John Kenneth Galbraith
The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. Josiah Stamp
This is the twilight of the banks. It would be a more cheerful spectacle if we could envision the dawn of the institutions that will replace them. Martin Mayer
Banking is a very treacherous business because you don't realize it is risky until it is too late. It is like calm waters that deliver huge storms. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. Robert Frost
There's more honor in investment management than in investment banking. Charlie Munger
The large banking interests were deeply interested in the World War because of the wide opportunities for large profits. William Jennings Bryan
Good banking is produced not by good laws, but by good bankers. Hartley Withers
A banking system is an act of faith: it survives only for as long as people believe it will. Michael Lewis
Because bankers measure their self-worth in money, and pay themselves a lot of it, they think they're fine fellows and don't need to explain themselves. James Buchan
Investment banking fees are geared towards success. John Williams
Banking may well be a career from which no man really recovers. John Kenneth Galbraith
Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies. Thomas Jefferson
There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage. James Holt McGavran
Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners. E. Joseph Cossman
Banking technology has made it simple and efficient to invest in good causes. Mark Skousen
Banking is very good business if you don't do anything dumb. Warren Buffett
Adventure is the life of commerce, but caution is the life of banking. Walter Bagehot
Banks are fundamentally different from manufacturing companies. For one, the raw material and finished products for all banks are the same - money. Saurabh Mukherjea
Given their central role in a country's economy, banks are also heavily regulated by the government and the central bank. Saurabh Mukherjea
Being a bank director is like being a pilot of an aircraft. It's years of boredom and seconds of terror. Moira Johnston
When you're in a commodity business, the only way to thrive is to be a low-cost producer. And when you're selling money, you're in a commodity business. Duff Mcdonald
In financial services, if you want to be the best in the industry, you first have to be the best in risk management and credit quality. It's the foundation for every other measure of success. There's almost no room for error. John Stumpf
Banks fail in the vast majority of cases because their managements seek growth at all costs, reach for profits without due regard to risk, give privileged treatment to insiders, or gamble on the future course of interest rates. Some simply have dishonest management that loots the bank. Irvine H. Sprague
Deposit insurance has proved to be the crack cocaine of American finance. Martin Mayer
The goal is not only to earn high returns at the top of the cycle but also to avoid giving them back at the bottom. Duff Mcdonald
It's not just whether you tell the truth. It's whether you even shave the truth. Daniel Tully
It is nowhere written that banks cannot fail Louis Schirano
Every banker knows that if he has to prove he is worthy of credit, in fact his credit is gone. Walter Bagehot
I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson
Everyday is a bank account, and time is our currency. No one is rich, no one is poor, we've got 24 hours each. Christopher Rice
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. Henry Ford
Got no checkbooks/Got no banks/Still I'd like to express my thanks/I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night. Irving Berlin
The best way to rob a bank is to own one. William K. Black
Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion. Giannina Braschi
What kind of a crime is the robbing of a bank, compared to the founding of a bank? Bertolt Brecht