Quotes 4

I want a one-armed economist so that the guy could never make a statement and then say 'on the other hand...'. - Harry S. Truman

I was a lousy accountant. I always figured that if you came within eight bucks of what you needed you were doing OK. I made the difference up out of my own pocket. - Bob Newhart

My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil. - Paul Getty

The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward. - John Maynard Keynes

I worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty. - Groucho Marx

If Graham was alive today, he might argue that you should simply withdraw from the market for a few years until conditions arise which offer you value for money that you are seeking. Graham might be right, but my problem is that I would get so bored waiting. - Jim Slater

I'd be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were efficient. - Warren Buffett on the efficient market hypothesis

I like the directors to own a number of shares substantial enough to give the 'owner's eye', but not so many that they have control, can sit back and could at some stage block a future bid. I like to see a good cross-section of the directors with reasonable shareholdings and I always worry if the Finance Director is not among them. - Jim Slater

Investing without research is like playing stud poker and never looking at the cards. - Peter Lynch

It is quite possible to lose money if a company's accounts follow UK GAAP [Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in the UK] to the letter, but the picture presented is so misleading that you are unable to interpret them correctly and as a result fail to see that it is financially vulnerable or its earnings are unsustainable. - Terry Smith

A company that descends into loss making often succeeds in making a comeback. One which runs out of cash (and friends) rarely has a second chance. - Alan Sugden

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. - Oscar Wilde

In the short run, the market is a voting machine. In the long run, it's a weighing machine. - Warren Buffett

There are few worse investments than a growth share going ex-growth. - Jim Slater

The best time to invest is when you have money. This is because history suggests it is not timing which matters, it is time. - John Templeton

Investing in stocks is an art, not a science, and people who've been trained to rigidly quantify everything have a big disadvantage. - Peter Lynch

The tips that pay off sufficiently overshadow the poor overall results for publishers to make a good living out of it. But not, according to my previous calculations, their subscribers. - Mike Mitchell commenting on the effectivenes of stockmarket tipsheets

Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessful, to turn a little money into a lot. Investment is an effort, which should be successful, to prevent a lot of money becoming a little. - Fred Schwed

Elephants don't gallop. - Jim Slater explaining why he prefers to seek growth oppoprtunties in small cap shares

If your stocks are down 25% in value, isn't it rather absurd to say you're alright because you're getting a 4% yield? - William J. O'Neil

There is no such thing as a paper loss. A paper loss is a very real loss. - Jim Rogers

If the job has been correctly done when a common stock is purchased, the time to sell it is - almost never. - Philip A. Fisher

If you are either a conservative or a very nervous investor, a mechanical system might be smart. It certainly achieves two goals: (1) limiting potential losses and (2) helping you sleep at night. As for maximizing your returns, I think that's another story. - Jonathan Steinberg

The new issue market is ruled by controlling stockholders and corporations who can usually select the timing of offerings. Understandably these sellers are not going to offer any bargains. It's rare you'll find X being sold for half-X. Indeed, in the case of common-stock offerings, selling shareholders are often motivated to unload only when they feel the market is overpaying. - Warren Buffett

An economist is someone who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. - Lawrence J. Peter

The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity. - Winston Churchill

If at first you do succeed - try to hide your astonishment. - Harry Banks

If you pay the executives at Sara Lee more, it doesn't make the cheesecake less good. But with mutual funds, it comes directly out of the batter. - Don Phillips on whether paying higher fees for mutual funds results in higher returns

As far as I am concerned, the stock market doesn't exist. It is only there as a reference to see if anybody is offering to do anything foolish. - Warren Buffett

The key to building wealth is to preserve capital and wait patiently for the right opportunity to make the extraordinary gains. - Victor Sperandeo