Quotes by Dave Ramsey

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

Saving must become a priority, not just a thought. Pay yourself first.

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

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

I will never be unemployed.

There's always something that needs attention when you own a property.

I have to live my books before I write them.

You don't need credit.

When people get scared, they quit giving.

I would not pre-pay. I would invest instead and let the investments cover it.

Debt is dumb. Cash is king.

Debt is normal. Be weird.

Whining shows a lack of character. If you don't like the way something is, do something to change it.

The average millionaire can't tell you who got thrown off the island last night.

Don't give money to people who won't behave properly with it. You'll just enable bad behavior.

Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity.

A lower interest rate doesn't make a debt go away.

A budget isn't about restricting what you can spend. It gives you permission to spend without guilt or regret.

Too many people buy things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like.

As much as I want to help people, I had to accept the fact long ago that being stupid with money isn't illegal.

We've really got to stop looking to Washington to fix our problems. It obviously doesn't have the ability to do that. People who are successful are not successful because of the president.

As parents, we teach our kids about things we feel competent in. That's why so many parents don't teach their kids about money.

To be fair, the collection business does have a few good people in it. But it also has those who will lie and make threats.

If you're able to pay your bills, you pay your bills. It's as simple as that.

What your beliefs are about anything creates your actions. What you believe about marriage creates the way you handle your marriage. What you believe about raising kids creates the way you do that.

The Bible clearly says that when we have a problem with our brother, we are to go to them and try to resolve the situation.

You will either tell your money what to do or the lack of it will always manage you.

Money ... is like a beautiful thoroughbred horse -- very powerful and always in action, but unless this horse is trained when very young, it will be an out-of-control and dangerous animal when it grows to maturity.

We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.

You know what you can do when you don't have any payments? Anything you want.

Contentment is both the fruit and the tree.

I can't tell you how many home businesses are almost in bankruptcy court over a Yellow Pages ad only to find out that the Yellow Pages ad isn't where their market will look for them, and it cost more than they thought.

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.

Don't react with fear and panic in the face of debt collector threats. Talk to them and explain your situation. See if you can work out a compromise.

Debt collectors like to play on your emotions because they think you'll give in and do something you can't really afford to do. Most of them don't care about you or your situation as long as they get some money.

You don't build wealth with credit card rewards and airline miles. You can't beat the credit card companies at their own game.

You must learn to control your money, or to the permanent deprivation control you.

Work is a surefire money-making scheme.

A big part of being strong financially is that you know where you are weak and take action to make sure you don't fall prey to the weakness. And we ALL are weak.

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

Don't medicate dysfunction with spending. No amount of stuff will get rid of guilt.

I'm a Christian. Years ago, I went broke, so I decided to run every part of my life according to the Bible. It sounds hokey, but it works. You run your marriage that way, and it works. It will work with business, too, and finances. Treat people like you want to be treated.

What I have done is packaged the time-honored information into a process that is doable and has inspired millions to act on it.

No one wins the Super Bowl accidentally. Be intentional, Be Passionate, Don't mail it in! You got this!

In the neighborhood where I grew up, it was a rough neighborhood -- well, not rough, but it certainly wasn't upper class or anything. But I remember hearing things like, 'The little man just can't get ahead.' And if you start to believe that, then you know what? You don't get ahead.

Never take a loan against your retirement! When you pay interest against your retirement, you cost yourself interest.

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

Financial winners don't run sprints, they run marathons. They don't rush. They do it step by step over time.

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.

Outrageous generosity is a character quality of people who win with money.

You have the clean canvas of a whole week before you. Paint well.

Instead of just purchasing an ad campaign, target test and measure. Give an ad a small try. If the response is enough to pay for the ad, make it larger. With a franchise, ask the most successful franchisees what they did. Ask the bottom five guys what they did and avoid it.

The love of money, not money, is root of all evil.

There are several things to be learned about money from Scripture, and the concepts of generosity and giving are in there.

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

Money is not good or evil. It has no morals or intentions on its own. Money reflects the character of the user.

Life will not make allowance for you, but it will pay you what you earn.

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

You must walk to the beat of a different drummer. The same beat that the wealthy hear. If the beat sounds normal, evacuate the dance floor immediately! The goal is to not be normal, because as my radio listeners know, normal is broke.

If your life is bad because of an elected official, then you don't have a life.

If you come with mercy but not justice; that's called enabling.

Financial Security is not enough money to buy toys. That is to learn to live with less money than you earn. So, you can help other individuals or investors. You are not a winner until done it.

No one got rich on a government program. Do not choose to be a common man. You can be uncommon.

The first step in taking control of your money is to stop borrowing money. Start using cash today.

The only reason to go into business is to make money. You have to work hard at it. If you're not passionate about it, you'll burn out so fast that it is incredible.

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

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

I think what y'all are doing is great. (The Dave Ramsey Show, September 2012).

Be an evangelist with your excellence.

Broke people giving financial advice is like a shop teacher with missing fingers.

Be intense, passionate, and fired up, but about things that matter, things that change your life and your legacy.

Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase.

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

Higher calling matters. When you care so deeply about the why-why you're doing what you're doing-then and only then are you operating in a way that allows you to overcome the obstacles.

A lower interest rate doesn't make a debt go away.

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

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

Just keep taking the next step and keep having excellence in the ordinary.

Your greatest asset is your paycheck. Disability insurance protects you and your family if you are unable to work by providing income which will help pay your bills and take care of your family. It's just as important as life insurance.

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

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

Poor is a state of mind. Broke is, 'I'm just passing through.'

Doing a budget means learning an ancient and powerful word: NO.

After losing everything, I went on a quest to find out how money really works, how I could get control of it, and how I could have confidence in handling it.

Servant Leadership is the only #leadership that ultimately works.

Teaching kids about money is never just about money.

Goals are visions and dreams with work clothes on.

Where you are today is the sum of every choice you've ever made. If you don't like where you are, start making different choices!

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.

Great talent stands in line to join your team because the culture becomes the stuff of legend.

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

Trust me, I know, you can make mistakes with money and still raise money-smart kids. You can start a new family tradition of handling money the right way.

Babies are wonderful, important things. Having kids, even the thought of having kids, is a big emotional deal. But sometimes it can cause people to change their financial plans and directions.

In order to be a great marketer, you have to be focused and intense and look at scarcity, urgency, activity and passion in the marketplace.

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

I always laugh and say I met God on the way up, and I got to know him on the way down. And so, as I'm crashing and losing everything, a lot of people run to God when they are struggling. And I was no exception.

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

I've seen numerous situations where collectors have taken more than the agreed-upon amount from someone's account once they gained access.

Wealth-building is a crockpot, not a microwave.

You can't work three hours a week and make $100,000. Get rich quick doesn't work. Crock pot mentality always defeats microwave mentality!

There is nothing wrong with having nice things, but when you are trying to buy nice things to be happy, you are going to hurt. It's not going to work.

It's never too late to turn things around. You are the only obstacle.

Would a good friend, a smart friend, encourage you to do something as dishonorable as not pay a bill you're morally and legally obligated to pay? I don't think so.

The creature comforts we tend to rationalize as business expenses I can write off.

It takes some discipline and hard work, but relying on credit when things go wrong is a trap.

Anytime you open a business, you have to be effective in promoting whether it's a franchise or not. You'll need to learn to be a Web marketer extraordinaire. There's plenty of material out there.

A good financial planner is going to do more than pick your funds.

Term Life Insurance is the only insurance I recommend. It's the least expensive way to get the coverage your family needs and allows you to lock in rates for 15, 20 or 30 years. Zander's online quoting system will help you find the most competitive options. It's more affordable than you think!

Life is not a snapshot, it's a filmstrip.

If you're doing something like scheduling utility payments to come through your debit card or out of your personal checking account, that's perfectly fine. But there are much safer ways to handle situations with debt collectors. You can send a money order overnight, or wire the cash to them.

You don't want to have so much money going toward your mortgage every month that you can't enjoy life or take care of your other financial responsibilities.

Thinking about starting a small business? Assume everything will cost twice as much and take twice as long as you think it will.

Surround yourself with people who add the fuel of advice and encouragement to your fire.

Money... is like a beautiful thoroughbred horse -- very powerful and always in action, but unless this horse is trained when very young, it will be an out-of-control and dangerous animal when it grows to maturity.

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.

Some people are just stuck in their ways and have been brainwashed into believing that credit cards and debt are an unavoidable part of life.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who execute them are not.

We have a retirement crisis in America today nor from a lack of money, but from a lack of vision.

A vacation home is a wonderful 'extra' as you start building wealth. Remember, though, it's still basically a very large, very expensive toy.

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.

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.

There is tremendous satisfaction in working your tail off to hit a goal, then winning. It is worth the work.

Once I will warn you, and then I will fire you! I have a zero-tolerance-plus-one policy for gossip. I will teach you once, and then I will fire your butt.

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

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.

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

Your FICO score is an I love debt score. You're going to pay a bazillion dollars in interest to keep your FICO score up in order to have lower homeowner's and car insurance rates.

Feeling lost? Take a dream and convert it into small goals, then start taking the steps to hit those goals.

Rich isn't an amount of money, it's a mindset about how you live. If you believe you can win, you can.

There's a great place to go when you're broke -- to work!

That stupid saying What you don't know can't hurt you is ridiculous. What you don't know can kill you. If you don't know that tractor trailer trucks hurt when hitting you, then you can play in the middle of the interstate with no fear -- but that doesn't mean you won't get killed.

One definition of maturity is learning to delay pleasure.

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.

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

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

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

You will either tell your money what to do, or the lack of it will always manage you.

Money moves from those who do not manage it to those who do.

Hitting bottom and hitting it hard was the worst thing that ever happened to me and the best thing that ever happened to me.

I think that anyone who wants to start their own business can, but not any type of business.

I like to write books where I get a question on the radio, and I don't have an answer for it.

This is a great time for the 'guerilla marketer.' The days when you used to have to buy expensive TV time and a yellow page ad to get started are gone.

I've got a young man who works for me who says you don't need to discover your dreams -- you need to recover them.

You never cash out a 401(k) or IRA to pay off debt, unless it's to avoid a foreclosure or bankruptcy.

You're not a bad parent if you don't save for your kid's college because instead you had to choose to feed them and clothe them. Those things come first. They can go to school and do this thing called 'work' while they're in school.

I really am not a gold fan.

My wife, Sharon, and I started with nothing when we got married. I was driving a 1902 Pinto and eating off a card table.

Children who reach the age of eighteen with their entire skills set composed on Nintendo and eating Doritos have been neglected. Their parents neglected to give them the character traits necessary to live successfully.

While I encourage people to save 100% down for a home, a mortgage is the one debt that I don't frown upon.

There are no shortcuts when it comes to getting out of debt.

Pay your utilities, gas and other basic needs before paying on your debts.

We are all in the business of sales. Teachers sell students on learning, parents sell their children on making good grades and behaving, and traditional salesmen sell their products.

My children were taught at an early age how money works and that it comes from hard work. They've been on a commission -- not an allowance -- since they were little. They learned that if they worked around the house, they got paid. If they didn't work, they didn't get paid.

You need some quick wins in order to stay pumped enough to get out of debt completely.

You have to teach children about money intentionally -- create teachable moments.

Most of the things we buy are wants. And we call them needs, but they're wants.

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.

I have done stupid with a lot of zeros on the end of it. I know what it looks like.

You've got to tell your money what to do or it will leave.

Credit is an 'I love debt' score.

You can't be in debt and win. It doesn't work.

People are in such a hurry to launch their product or business that they seldom look at marketing from a bird's eye view and they don't create a systematic plan.

I believe that through knowledge and discipline, financial peace is possible for all of us.

I've got a young man who works for me who says you don't need to discover your dreams - you need to recover them.