Building wealth is possible regardless of your financial situation or education. But your beliefs about money can play a huge role in whether or not you finish rich.
So why not look to those who have been there, done that for inspiration?
From investor Warren Buffett and entrepreneur Mark Cuban to tech mogul Jeff Bezos and media maven Oprah Winfrey, Business Insider rounded up quotations about money from self-made billionaires that will shift your perspective on business, investing, and success.
Many of their perspectives share a commonalities: they don't measure success by the amount of money they make. Money isn't the end goal and it doesn't define them, but it's important to invest it wisely if you want to build more wealth down the road.
Here's what some of the world's richest men and women have to say about money.
Emmie Martin contributed to an earlier version of this post.
"I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." — Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Source: Good Reads
"There are very few people in the world who get to build a business like this. I think trading that for some short-term gain isnt very interesting." — Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc., on not selling to Facebook
Steve Jennings/Getty
Source: CNBC
"The reason Ive been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been money." — Oprah Winfrey, business magnate
Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Source: Entrepreneur
"And I think the more money you put in peoples hands, the more they will spend. And if they dont spend it, they invest it. And investing it is another way of creating jobs. It puts money into mutual funds or other kinds of banks that can go out and make loans, and we need to do that." — Michael Bloomberg, CEO of Bloomberg LP
REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Source: Google Books
"If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach." — Larry Page, Google cofounder and CEO of Alphabet Inc.
Kimberly White/Getty Images
Source: Time
"I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, its the same hamburger." — Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft
Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images
Source: MSN
"When a small business grows like eBay did, it has a multiplier effect. It creates other small businesses that supply it with intellectual capital, goods, and services." — Meg Whitman, former CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise
AP
Source: Economic Times
"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out." — Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Source: Investopedia
"You always hear the phrase, money doesn’t buy you happiness. But I always in the back of my mind figured a lot of money will buy you a little bit of happiness. But its not really true." — Sergey Brin, Google cofounder and president of Alphabet Inc.
Steve Jennings/Getty Images
"If you have less than $1 million, you know how to spend the money. [At] $1 billion, thats not your money...The money I have today is a responsibility. Its the trust of people on me." — Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Source: Business Insider
"Money makes you more of who you already are." — Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx
Paul Morigi/Getty
Source: Forbes
"The financial markets generally are unpredictable. ... The idea that you can actually predict whats going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market." —George Soros, investor and chairman of Soros Fund Management
AP Photo
Source: Investopedia
"As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own." — Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Inc.
Jack Plunkett/AP Images for Dell, Inc.
Source: Entrepreneur
"I never thought about becoming wealthy. It never crossed my mind. What really motivated me was to try to accomplish something." — Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation
AP
Source: Jewish Press
"My goal was never to just create a company. A lot of people misinterpret that, as if I dont care about revenue or profit or any of those things. But what not being just a company means to me is not being just that — building something that actually makes a really big change in the world." — Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook
REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
Source: Entrepreneur
"Wealth isnt the same thing as intelligence." — Larry Ellison, cofounder and CEO of Oracle
Kimberly White/Getty Images
Source: Chicago Tribune
"Being confident and believing in your own self-worth is necessary to achieving your potential." — Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
Reuters
Source: Good Reads
"My philosophy is that if I have any money, I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around." — Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
Vincenzo Lombardo/Getty Images
Source: Thrillist
"Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or dont do it." — Mark Cuban, entrepreneur
Jin S. Lee
Source: Inc.
"When it came rolling in, the money affected us all. Not much, and not for long, because none of us was ever driven by money. But thats the nature of money. Whether you have it or not, whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, it will try to define your days. Our task as human beings is not to let it." — Phil Knight, cofounder of Nike
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Source: Good Reads
"When I look back on whatever my past has been and the successes, my greatest rewards have been the people and the relationships that Ive had. The money has been an accident. I mean, its a good accident, but I happened to be playing a game that I love." — Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates
Reuters / Ruben Sprich
Source: CNBC
See Also:
- Tim Cook's estimated net worth is $625 million — here's how he makes and spends his money
- How much money you have to earn to be considered rich in the biggest city in every state
- Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says there's an especially 'frightening' difference between the lives of rich and non-rich people in America
SEE ALSO: A self-made millionaire who interviewed 100 other millionaires found there's one surprising habit many have in common
DON'T MISS: The author of 'The Millionaire Next Door' explains 3 ways anyone can build more wealth