The function of the margin of safety is, in essence, that of rendering unnecessary an accurate estimate of the future.

No matter how careful you are, the one risk no investor can ever eliminate is the risk of being wrong. Only by insisting on what Graham called the "margin of safety" - never overpaying, no matter how exciting an investment seems to be - can you minimize your odds of error.

Thousands of people have tried, and the evidence is clear: The more you trade, the less you keep.

Investing is most intelligent when it is most businesslike.

Obvious prospects for physical growth in a business do not translate into obvious profits for investors.

In an ideal world, the intelligent investor would hold stocks only when they are cheap and sell them when they become overpriced, then duck into the bunker of bonds and cash until stocks again become cheap enough to buy.

The 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.