Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence. - John Kenneth Galbraith

Out of that belief, thus instilled, then comes action — the bidding up of values, whether in land, securities, or, as recently, art. The upward movement confirms the commitment to personal and group wisdom. And so on to the moment of mass disillusion and the crash. This last, it will now be sufficiently evident, never comes gently. It is always accompanied by a desperate and largely unsuccessful effort to get out.

for the young Louis XV: Philippe II, Duc d’Orléans, was a man who combined a negligible intellect with deeply committed self-indulgence.

There is nothing reliable to be learned about making money. If there were, study would be intense and everyone with a positive IQ would be rich.