In the financial markets, hindsight is forever 20/20, but foresight is legally blind. And thus, for most investors, market timing is a practical and emotional impossibility.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMIn the financial markets, hindsight is forever 20/20, but foresight is legally blind. And thus, for most investors, market timing is a practical and emotional impossibility.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThe underlying principles of sound investment should not alter from decade to decade, but the application of these principles must be adapted to significant changes in the financial mechanisms and climate.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThere is a close logical connection between the concept of a safety margin and the principle of diversification.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMTraditionally the investor has been the man with patience and the courage of his convictions who would buy when the harried or disheartened speculator was selling.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThe intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMEvery corporate security may be best viewed, in the first instance, as an ownership interest in, or a claim against, a specific business enterprise.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMAlways buy your straw hats in the Winter
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThe chief losses to investors come from the purchase of low-quality securities at times of favorable business conditions.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThere is no reason to feel any shame in hiring someone to pick stocks or mutual funds for you. But there’s one responsibility that you must never delegate. You, and no one but you, must investigate whether an adviser is trustworthy and charges reasonable fees.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMRather should we say that the market is a voting machine, whereon countless individuals register choices which are the product partly of reason and partly of emotion.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThe intelligent investor gets interested in big growth stocks not when they are at their most popular – but when something goes wrong.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMAvoid second-quality issues in making up a portfolio unless they are demonstrable bargains.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMNever buy a stock immediately after a substantial rise or sell one immediately after a substantial drop.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMIn the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMIntelligent investment is more a matter of mental approach than it is of technique. A sound mental approach toward stock fluctuations is the touchstone of all successful investment under present-day conditions.
BENJAMIN GRAHAMThe investor should be aware that even though safety of its principal and interest may be unquestioned, a long term bond could vary widely in market price in response to changes in interest rates.
BENJAMIN GRAHAM