Minimizing the risk of ruin should be an ever-present priority of anyone in business. Here are some interesting quotes on the topic: Charles Ellis: “Large losses are forever - in investing, in teenage driving, and in fidelity. If you avoid large losses with a strong defense, the winnings will have every opportunity to take care of themselves.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb: “The possibility of ruin is the only thing you should focus on when managing risk.” Peter Drucker: “The first duty of business is to survive, and the guiding principle of business economics is not the maximization of profit but the avoidance of loss.” Peter L. Bernstein: “The essence of risk management lies in maximizing the areas where we have some control over the outcome while minimizing the areas where we have absolutely no control over the outcome.”