Pimco's Bill Gross doesn't decorate his office walls with portraits of past lords of finance because he thinks they're pretty to look at. No, sir. To Gross, who runs the world's biggest bond fund, the pictures serve as a constant reminder of what changes on Wall Street and what never does, according to the April 1 issue of Fortune. Here is an excerpt from the piece of Gross explaining what he learned from the men whose portraits reside in his office:
Best Advice I Ever Got: Hanging on the walls of my office are three pictures: There's J.P. Morgan, who taught me that it's character, not assets, that counts most; Jesse Livermore [who made a fortune calling the market downturns of 1907 and 1929—but later lost it], who taught me that it is important to "know thyself"; and [financier] Bernard Baruch, who taught me that no matter what, "two and two will always equal four" -- and that no one has ever invented a way to get something for nothing.
Hat tip to The Wall Street Journal's MarketBeat blog for the excerpt.