If you see a Swiss banker jump out of a window, jump right after. There is bound to be a profit in it.

A long-running joke about the supposed financial shrewdness of Genevans/Swiss bankers: if one jumps from a window, you should follow because there will be profit even in the fall. The earliest located appearance (1783, London) presents it in French and attributes it to Cardinal Richelieu, but that attribution is late and unsupported. Later sources variously credit Choiseul (from 1790/1792) and Voltaire (from 1807), with many subsequent localized variants (Geneva/Zurich/Swiss banker; different profit percentages).

The line is a cynical compliment: Swiss (or Genevan/Zurich) financiers are portrayed as so adept at making money that even an apparently disastrous act would be part of a profitable calculation, so an observer should imitate them to share the gain.

Si vous voyez un Genevois se jetter par la fenêtre, jettez vous y après; car soyez assuré qu’il y aura douze pour cent à gagner.

If you see a Geneva banker jump out a window, follow him. There is money to be made on the way down.

If you see a Zurich banker jump out the window, follow him. There is money to be made on the way down.