The first thing I heard when I got in the business - not from my mentor - was, 'Bulls make money, bears make m... — Stanley Druckenmiller

The first thing I heard when I got in the business - not from my mentor - was, 'Bulls make money, bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered.' I'm here to tell you I was a pig. And I strongly believe the only way to make long-term returns in our business that are superior is by being a pig.

Author: Stanley Druckenmiller

Insight: There's a real tension buried in this quote that makes it worth sitting with. The old Wall Street saying warns against greed—be satisfied with steady gains or you'll lose everything. But Druckenmiller flipped it: the real money comes from being willing to hold through massive moves, to stay committed when your conviction is strongest, to not cash out early just because you've already won. Most of us recognize this in our own lives, even outside investing. We quit the gym after three weeks because we've already "made progress." We leave a job right when things get interesting. We sell our project or business too soon because the first offer feels good. The conservative voice—the one that sounds wise and reasonable—often nudges us toward small, safe wins. But Druckenmiller's point is that exceptional results require a different kind of discipline: the discipline to ignore the warning voices and stay in the game when it's uncomfortable. The twist is that being "a pig" isn't actually reckless. It's the opposite. It means doing deep research, understanding your convictions, and having the conviction to act on them fully. That's not greed—that's commitment. The slaughtered pigs are the ones acting on impulse or FOMO, not the ones willing to look foolish in pursuit of something real.

Source: The New Market Wizards, p. 187, 1992