Quotes

Every bubble has two components: an underlying trend that prevails in reality and a misconception relating to that trend.

For years I have contended that the average speculator does not lose his money in Wall Street. He loses it wherever he happens to be the instant he decides to let the ticker put unearned dollars in his pocket. The game does not beat the player; he beats himself.

Not even the "safest" investment is without some risk and some element of speculation.

There are two principal mistakes that nearly all amateurs in the stock market make. The first is to have an inexact knowledge of the securities in which one is dealing, to know too little about a company's management, its earnings, and prospects for future growth. The second mistake is to trade beyond one's financial resources, to try to run up a fortune on a shoestring.

One could say that my whole career in Wall Street proved one long process of education in human nature.

The strange fascination that the stock market exerts upon people has never ceased being a source of wonder to me.

The stockholder wants both income and appreciation, but in general the more he gets of one the less he realizes of the other.

All experienced investors know that earning power exerts a far more potent influence over stock prices than does property value.

The worth of a business is measured not by what has been put into it, but by what can be taken out of it.

Current earnings, future prospects, management, marketability are all factors more or less independent of assets which contribute their share to the intrinsic value.

Historically, many companies that have had terrible times have come back, or many of them do. A decline doesn't mean it's the end.

I think people trade too much, looking for short-term gains. But I don't think you should hold stocks indefinitely.