Dave Ramsey Quotes

Pray like it all depends on God, but work like it all depends on you.

If people in America would get their finances together and start taking care of each other, we could put the government out of business.

The decision to go into debt alters the course and condition of your life. You no longer own it. You are owned.

Earning a lot of money is not the key to prosperity. How you handle it is.

We live in a culture full of hares; but the tortoise always wins.

Debt is so ingrained into our culture that most Americans can't even envision a car without a payment ... a house without a mortgage ... a student without a loan ... and credit without a card. We've been sold debt with such repetition and with such fervor that most folks can't conceive of what it would be like to have NO payments.

You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.

Winning at money is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge. What to do isn’t the problem; doing it is. Most of us know what to do, but we just don’t do it. If I can control the guy in the mirror, I can be skinny and rich.

Nothing happens without focus. Don't try to do everything at once. Take it one step at a time.

If the US Government was a family—they would be making $58,000 a year, spending $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand.

Adults devise a plan and follow it, children do what feels good.

Debt gives you the ability to look like you’re winning when you’re not.

Remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

When you're trying to achieve a goal, negative people will just bring you down. Surround yourself with the positive.

Investing is important, but get debt-free first. That's what frees up your income so you can win.

There's not a party, a congressman, a senator, etc. elected that will fix your life. YOU have to fix YOUR life.

Too many people try to do the new job, new spouse, new house, new car thing in 18 months. That's a good way to end up broke. We've got to resist the temptation to catch up with our parents in 18 months. Slow down. You have the rest of your life to play catch up. After all, it's just stuff.

Study the habits of the people you want to be like and then imitate them. If they are succeeding, they must be doing something right.

When getting help with money, whether it is insurance, real estate or investments you should always look for a person with the heart of a teacher, not the heart of a salesman.

At the end of the day we are not selling, we are serving.

The paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.

Wealth comes from hard work but not because of hard work. Wealth comes because of God. Everything is His.

When we're dealing with money in relationships, when we're dealing with money in our personal lives, when we're dealing with money in our families, the flow of money in a family represents the value system under which that family operates.

Money is 80% behavior, 20% head knowledge. It's what you do, not what you know.

More wealth doesn't fix your life. More wealth makes you more of what you already are.

Bosses push, Leaders pull. Real leadership is servant leadership.

Leading a family is the hardest job a man can ever have.

If you will make the sacrifices now that most people aren't willing to make, later on you will be able to live as those folks will never be able to live.

For your own good, for the good of your family and your future, grow a backbone. When something is wrong, stand up and say it is wrong, and don't back down.

One definition of maturity is learning to delay pleasure.

Save 3-6 months of expenses in a Rainy Day fund. Know why? Cause it is going to rain, and you aren't the exception.

You can get anywhere if you simply go one step at a time.

Your priorities, passions, goals, and fears are shown clearly in the flow of your money.

A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

The thing I have discovered about working with personal finance is that the good news is that it is not rocket science. Personal finance is about 80 percent behavior. It is only about 20 percent head knowledge.

Success is a pile of failure that you are standing on.

Knock out a small debt first so you get a quick win. Momentum is key.

I came to realize that my money problems, worries, and shortages largely began and ended with the person in my mirror. I realized also that if I could learn to manage the character I shaved with every morning, I would win with money.

If hard work, integrity, thrift, and perseverance have caused you to succeed, then you don't owe anyone an apology for winning.

Change is painful. Few people have the courage to seek out change. Most people won’t change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change.

Debt is dumb. Cash is king.

Delegation requires the willingness to pay for short term failures in order to gain long term competency.

I'm not against people having new cars. I'm against them having you. We spend a tremendous amount impressing somebody at the stoplight who we'll never meet. It makes you broke and keeps you broke.

Without a mission statement, you may get to the top of the ladder and then realize it was leaning against the wrong building!

Fear is the enemy of hope.

True leadership is servanthood. Put the interests of others at the center of your decisions.

Work is doing it. Discipline is doing it every day. Diligence is doing it well every day.

Everyone has some natural talent or aptitude in one or more areas. If you can identify those areas you not only will be happier and perform more successfully in that role, but you will also become better paid for that. Our free-market system pays for performance at some point. When you have a natural talent or aptitude, coupled with desire and experience, the result is productivity plus.

Financial peace isn't the acquisition of stuff. It's learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can't win until you do this.

Making mistakes and learning from them is crucial to winning.